Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Alright students! Gather around! We are going to the human realm for the triwizard tournament, just like we talked about. Don’t make me regret this. Please.” Bump called out to the Hexside students that were joining him on a trip to a human wizarding school. He had learned that a school called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was hosting a tournament between it and its rival schools Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. Luz wondered how he convinced the human witches to let them in the triwizard tournament. Or maybe he hadn’t, this was all pretty out of nowhere.

"When we get there, you're all going to write your names on slips of paper and put them in the Goblet of Fire. Understand?" Bump told them, then he opened the portal before anyone could ask anything.

They all had met in front of Hexside three days prior to have Bump tell everyone that we were doing this. He didn't explain what it entailed, or how long it was going to take. Typical Bump Luz thought.

“I thought you said that there wasn’t magic in the human realm. So how are there multiple magic schools on Earth?” Amity asked her girlfriend.

“I didn’t know that there was magic on Earth, I suppose they keep it a secret from normal humans.” Luz replied as a few students began to go through the portal door. “I wonder how we plan to get from here to Scotland, I don’t really want to fly over the entire Atlantic Ocean.” she pondered.

“Well, you’re in luck!” Bump told Luz, “We aren’t flying all the way to Hogwarts. We would be late if we did that, the portal door actually can link to other places than just your hometown. It is currently linked about 3 miles from Hogwarts’ location. We might want to be practical, but we’re still going to make a grand entrance!”

Okay Luz thought, turns out Eda hasn’t told me everything about the door. Maybe she didn’t even know it could do this. She smiled at Amity as the cotton-candy haired goddess walked through the door. Luz gave Bonesborough a wave goodbye as she stepped through into the human realm.

Luz saw that they were in a very hilly area, This definitely isn’t Gravesfield, she thought to herself. Luz shivered, having forgotten to dress for the weather. The last few students poured through the portal, then the door closed. There were 20 of them, Gus, Amity, Willow, Hunter, Edric, Emira, Skara, Boscha, Viney, Jerbo, Barcus, Vee, Mattholomule, Amelia, Cat, Eileen, Bo, Selene, Bump and Luz. Along with King and Eda, who weren’t supposed to be there, but joined anyway. Bump couldn't exactly stop Eda, as she held the key to the portal door.

“Everyone, get on your palisman!” Bump yelled at them, “Porter, Blight, Blight, Tholomule, cast an illusion to make us seem like the Titan’s skull!” Gus, Ed, Em, and Matt did as they were told, enshrouding everyone in an illusion. Luz was between Amity and Hunter, who had just carved his new palisman; a blue jay named Waffle that looked remarkably like Flapjack. Luz get herself steady on Stringbean, and they took off on the count of three, beginning their approach to the castle.

Professor McGonagall told Hogwarts that a fourth school had decided to join, Harry couldn’t quite remember the name, Hexagon? Hexway? Something like that.

They were told that the new school was going to arrive from the west any moment now, Ron, Hermione and Harry were all standing next to each other facing the forest. The courtyard was chilly, as to be expected in October.

“Any idea where this new school is?” Ron asked.

“Perhaps it’s Ilvermorny, the American school, but they are going by a code name for some reason. I’ve never heard of a school called Hexside school of Magic and Demonics” Hermione admitted, Harry figured it wasn’t Ilvermorny, he remembered hearing Dumbledore telling McGonagall that Ilvermorny didn’t want to join for the Triwizard Tournament, or, quad-wizard tournament now, Harry thought. Wait, isn’t there one in South America? No, that one’s called Castelobruxo.

After almost ten minutes of anxious waiting from the school, a giant horned skull appeared over the horizon, approaching the castle.

“It’s them!” Professor Flitwick shouted in excitement. The skull kept approaching, not seeming to show signs of stopping, it was going about 80 kilometers per hour, as far as Harry could tell. As it drew nearer still, a few of the first and second-years fled to the nearby doorway. Harry stood unflinchingly with the other older students.

Mere meters from collision with the castle, the skull evaporated as about twenty or so… people - or so Harry thought, some of them looked very non-human - on strange-looking brooms appeared out of thin air, all veering up in perfectly straight lines as they avoided the castle walls. Harry couldn’t help but be impressed by their coordination. I hope they play Quidditch, he thought, hoping for a good match.

The new arrivals landed , and some of their brooms disappeared in moments, and the headpieces on them, which looked like animals, turned into animals. That is wonderful magic! Harry thought, as a man with one eye and long black hair approached Dumbledore, Harry assumed that man was their headmaster.

“Welcome, Hexside school, to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!” Dumbledore announced gleefully to them, “Please, Principal Bump, follow me!” The two headmasters departed for Dumbledore’s office. The students of Hexside all broke ranks.

The Hexside students started to mingle with the Hogwarts students, but none of them recognized Harry, much to his relief. Though Harry did seem to catch the attention of two students, two girls about his age. One had pink hair, skin as white as paper, and golden eyes; the other had dark hair, brown skin, and a scar on her eyebrow. The Latina seemed to be staring right at Harry's scar. Harry tried to casually hide it, then failed at being casual, and at hiding it. Hermione told him off and said that he should try to make a good first impression.

Chapter Text

Luz noticed that every student at Hogwarts was a human, or at least they looked like humans, they had round ears. Luz had thought that she was the only living human with any form of magic, thanks to Stringbean, but clearly, she was mistaken. The students seemed to be sorted into four groups, a red one, a blue one, a yellow one, and a green one. She wondered what types of magic each of them learned.

They saw a trio of people, a boy with black hair, glasses and a scar that seemed to resemble a lightning bolt on his forehead, very cool! Luz thought, a boy with fire-red hair who was probably taller than Eda, and a girl with curly brown hair. No one was bothering them. Something about the boy with the scar seemed familiar, though she had no idea why.

“Hi, I’m Luz Noceda, and this is my girlfriend, Amity Blight! Who are you three?” she asked of these three witches. The tall one made a face for a split second when Luz said ‘Girlfriend’.

“Erm, I’m Harry, Harry Potter,” The black-haired one answered, “And these two are Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.” Harry seemed to be trying to subtly hide the scar on his forehead to no avail. Luz couldn’t put her finger on why, but Harry’s name and that scar made him seem very familiar.

“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you!” Amity replied to him. His attempts to hide his scar seemed just as pointless as they were futile. Luz finally realized how much she had been looking at it.

“Oh, sorry for staring at your scar, it just looks so cool. May I ask how you got it?” Luz immediately realized how personal her question had been, “O-only if you’re comfortable sharing, of course.” Nice save, she thought.

“No, I-I’d rather not share, sorry. It’s personal.” Harry replied. Damn it, Luz, that response shouldn’t make me more curious! Luz thought to herself. 

“So, what do the different colors represent?” Amity asked. 

“They represent the four Hogwarts houses, the three of us are in Gryffindor, the red one. The blue one is Ravenclaw, the yellow one is Hufflepuff, and the green one is Slytherin.” Hermione started rattling off. Her demeanor was bossy and knowledgeable, like she thought this was simple knowledge everyone should’ve known that information by now.

“Gryffindors are brave, Ravenclaws are intelligent, Hufflepuffs are loyal, and Slutherins are ambitious. At the start of the year, first-years are sorted into whichever house suits them the best.” She continued. 

“What about your different colored sleeves?” Harry asked, his eyes full of curiosity.

“The different colors for Hexside uniforms represent the nine different magic tracks, Abomination, Bard, Beast Keeping, Construction, Healing, Illusion, Oracle, Plant, and Potions.” Luz answered, “Before I came around, students were only able to take one of them, but as you can see,” she glanced at the other students, most of whom have multiple colors on their sleeves, “That’s not the case anymore!” The human witches nodded in understanding.

“So, do you know how this whole tournament thing works?” Amity pestered, “Bump kinda just decided we were gonna do this thing. With no explanation, are we staying in this castle, or are we going through the portal door back to Hexside every night?”

“We don’t know either, this tournament hasn’t been held in over two hundred years,” Ron explained. He scratched his head while he spoke. Luz wanted to know more, but she supposed that had to wait.

Gus came over to join the five of them. He introduced himself, then he was soon followed by Hunter and Willow. They also introduced themselves. The humans kept staring at the ears of the Witches.

“So why do you four have pointed ears?” inquired Harry. Willow explained it to him. The Hogwarts trio all seemed to understand to some extent. The human witches then asked about the creatures on our staffs, and Hunter started to explain them.

"These creatures are called palismen, they're made from a special kind of wood native to the Boiling Isles, where Hexside is, called the Palistrom tree. I am actually an apprentice Palisman carver under Dell Clawthorne!" He was starting to get excited, Luz was happy that he had found something he was passionate about.

"Every witchling receives their own Palisman when they come of age. They don't come to life until they bond with you by telling them what you truly, deeply wish. Like for me, it was helping others. And for Luz, it was being understood. Palismen have two forms, a staff form and an animate form. When in the staff form, they fly around, and we use them for transport. When they're in animate form, they can help with all sorts of tasks! For example, our principal Bump uses his palisman, Frewin, to help him see!" Hunter continued info-dumping enthusiastically. The human witches seemed to barely follow along.

"So you mean to say that everyone from your part of the Wizarding world has one of these?" Ron asked, perplexed.

Hunter got stuck on the term 'wizarding world' for a moment but then explained that since Belos had stolen the palismen of many people for his own selfish consumption, and over-harvested the palistrom tree, not every Witch had one, in fact, most of his friends had hand-me-down palismen, ones that had been abandoned.

"But the trees are making a recovery!" He said enthusiastically, "Probably in twenty years or so, every Witch on the Boiling Isles who wishes for a palisman can have one again! Just like the days before the Emperor's Coven!"

The Hogwarts students nodded, Luz couldn't tell if it was actual understanding, or if they just wanted Hunter to stop talking so much.

"Well, over here, we just have our wands, I remember when I got mine on my eleventh birthday, Ollivander told me that the wand chooses the wizard, and I ended up with this Holly wand with a Phoenix feather core. Do you have sports with your palismen? When they're in staff form they sound a lot like a broomstick." Harry said. "We play a few sports on brooms over here!"

Harry proceeded to explain Quidditch, then he somehow got onto the subject of his pet owl, Hedwig.

Hogwarts seemed pretty cool, they had broomsticks, wands, and animal pets; it sounded a lot more like Azura than it did the Boiling Isles. Luz couldn’t wait to get to know more!

Albus thought it odd that a school in another realm wished to join the Triwizard tournament, but he had decided to humor them. It would have been rude to turn down someone who had specifically asked to join, after all.

“So, headmaster Dumbledore, when will the champions be chosen?” Principal Bump inquired.

“The Goblet of Fire will choose its champions tomorrow night, on Halloween,” Albus told him in his typical wise demeanor. The two headmasters made their way to Albus’ office. 

Waiting for them were Madame Olympe Maxime of Beauxbatons and Igor Karkaroff of Durmstrang. Olympe was a very tall woman with olive skin and black eyes, while Igor was almost as tall as Albus, with short white hair and a goatee.

Maxime seemed annoyed at the delay, while Karkaroff seemed mildly amused by another school’s attendance. Bump took a seat next to Madame Maxime, and Albus took his seat on the other side of his desk.

“Good afternoon. As I’m sure you all are well aware, a fourth school is in attendance for this year's Triwizard Tournament. Or I suppose you could call it the Quad-wizard Tournament now.” Albus chuckled at his joke. “Luckily, I have already re-enchanted the Goblet of Fire to account for the fourth school.”

“Why did you allow zis school to join us?” pestered the French Headmistress, “zat is messing with ze traditions!”

Albus paused, wanting to form a proper response. “I have allowed Hexside to join us, dear Olympe, because I think it is rude to tell someone no when they have asked to join this tournament.”

“We allowed Ilvermorny in this tournament back when I was headmaster. Two champions died!” One of the portraits piped in, “I thought we learned our lesson! Four schools are too many!”

“Headmaster Duncan, I can assure you that Hexside is nothing like Ilvermorny. I have been to Hexside’s campus, and I believe their students will make very competent champions” Albus assured the old headmaster.

Finding the argument useless, Duncan receded to another portrait. Karkaroff grumbled about Dumbledore being too willing to let go of tradition.

“Need I remind you, Igor, that it was my idea to even bring back this ancient tournament. Its existence is enough to honor tradition.” Albus told the Durmstrang headmaster. His voice was stern, but calm. “The Triwizard Tournament has not been held since seventeen-ninety-two, over two hundred years ago. Even I’m not old enough to have been there.” Albus failed to keep in a chuckle.

"This tournament will be different from years past, but there is more to honoring tradition than being unchanging. You must also learn, change and grow." Albus told them. Igor, however, didn't seem convinced. "This tournament will run as smoothly as possible to ensure fair competition."

“If I could be of any assistance to you, Headmaster Dumbledore, I would be pleased to do so.” Bump said to him.

“That won’t be necessary, Hieronymus, I have everything under control” Dumbledore calmly told the demon-headed principal. But did he?

Albus kept wondering what he was going to do about the tasks, he only had three dragon eggs, and he had only asked for three dragons, a Hungarian Horntail, a Chinese Fireball, and a Swedish Short-snout, what would the fourth one be? He had asked the merpeople that they would have to capture three people, not four. This entire tournament would be quite overwhelming. But he was Albus Dumbledore, he could handle it.

Albus dismissed the three other headmasters, wishing to be alone in his study. He called out for Fawkes to join him. Dumbledore had much thinking to do.

Chapter Text

Luz decided to sit with the human witches they had met earlier for dinner. Amity, wanting to join her girlfriend, sat with her. They were discussing the Triwizard tournament and all that it entailed. 

“So who do you think the champions are going to be?” Hunter asked while stuffing himself with every scrap of food he could.

“Well, I have a feeling Viktor Krum will represent Durmstrang.” Ron admitted, “After all, he’s a quidditch champion! He caught the snitch at the World Cup this summer!”

“What about Hogwarts? It’s the one you attend, so I assume you have a pretty good idea of who might be the champion.” Willow asked while eating her salad.

“Well, we’re not sure. Of course, we want it to be our friend, Angelina, she’s in Gryffindor like us. But all of the Hufflepuffs are backing Cedric Diggory” Harry explained, “What about Hexside? Who do you think might be your champion?”

What if Luz became champion? Amity thought, her winning the prize, being all, cute and stuff. No, I have to stop thinking about that before I start blushing! Oh, but Luz would be so cute out there fighting griffins or whatever she would have to do.

“Maybe I could be champion. After all, I was the Grom queen last year.” Amity said, probably blushing from her stupid idea. No, I have to get that out of my head, I don’t want to embarrass myself! The other Hexside students nodded in agreement with Amity being the champion.

Suddenly, a girl from Beauxbatons arrived from behind Amity, causing her to blush even more. She was just so, so, beautiful!

“Iz your friend here okay? She seems to be red in ze face.” She said, her accent making that girl seem even more attractive. “Anyways, are you wanting ze bouillabaisse?” She asked, her face more beautiful than any other that Amity had seen. It was as though a spell had been cast on her. 

“Oh. Y-You can have our b-bou-bouillabaisse” Amity blabbered, her thoughts filled by the pretty girl in front of her. She gladly took the bouillabaisse, then walked off.

Why am I so infatuated with her? Amity wondered, I’m dating Luz! I shouldn’t be admiring other girls like that!

“She must be a Veela!” Ron concluded hoarsely. He had been more infatuated than Amity with that girl.

“Of course she isn’t!” Hermione responded tartly “I don’t see anyone else gaping at her like an idiot!”

Amity looked around the Great Hall and realized that Hermione was not correct in that statement. Almost every male, and a few girls, in the Hall were all turning into speechless fools as she drew near them.

“I’m telling you, that’s not a normal girl!” Ron replied, leaning so he could keep his eyes on her.

“What’s a Veela?” Gus asked, unfazed by the girl’s beauty. Hermione, annoyed by almost everyone else being fixated on the Beauxbatons girl, explained them to Gus. Amity only caught a few words of it, something about beautiful women, which seemed to add up.

“When you finish putting your eyes back into your thick skulls,” Hermione insulted, “you’ll see who’s just arrived.”

She was pointing at the staff table, two empty seats had just been filled, Amity assumed they were people of some importance.

After the golden plates were wiped clean by magic, Hogwarts’ Headmaster stood to describe in great detail how the games would be run. The two men Amity saw earlier were Bartemius Crouch, head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation; and Ludo Bagman, head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports. The two of them along with the headmasters of the four schools would be the judges for the events.

A large casket was brought out, it was encrusted with countless jewels and looked like it was made when the Titan was still alive.

“There will be three tasks, spaced throughout the school year,” Dumbledore continued, “and they will test the champions in many different ways; their magical prowess, their daring, their powers of deduction, and, of course, their ability to cope with danger.”

“As you know, normally only three champions would compete. However, due to Hexside’s attendance, four champions will compete instead. The champions will be marked on how well they perform on the tasks and the champion with the highest total at the end will win the Triwizard Cup” He continued, “The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: The Goblet of Fire.”

Dumbledore then took out a stick of some kind, like a wand from Azura, and tapped the casket. The lid creaked open, and inside was a large, wooden cup. The cup itself was unremarkable, however, its bowl was filled with a beautiful, blue flame.

“Anybody wishing to become champion must write their name and school clearly on a piece of parchment and drop it into this goblet.” He told the hall, “Tomorrow night, Halloween, the goblet will return the names it has deemed worthy for the tournament.”

He went on to explain an ‘age line’ to stop underage students from putting their names in. He then explained that if your name is chosen, you have to compete. He then bid the hall good night.

Amity was shocked at learning of an age line, why would Bump bring us here if the only people old enough to cross it are my older siblings? she wondered.

That night, (the Hexside students had returned to go back to their homes on the Boiling Isles), Amity sent a message through the group chat with everyone who was attending the tournament.

Amity: Hey, does anyone else want to try to put their names in, even though there’s that age line?

Luz: ofc i do!!!

Willow: yeah

Gus: ofc

Matt: naturally!

Viney: duh

Boscha: as if I would let such a dumb thing stop me

Skara: why wouldnt i

Vee: ofc i do

Edric: Ha! losers! I’m old enough to put my name in anyways

Emira: lol, I’m old enough

Hunter: yeah

Amity: Meet at the Owl House in 30 minutes if you’re coming.

And so, all people who said yes came, and went through the portal door. They used an invisibility spell to sneak past the caretaker. He didn’t seem like someone you wanted to cross.

They all poured into the Great Hall to see it was empty, the other students were probably going to do it in the morning. They all got slips of parchment and wrote their names along with the word “Hexside” on it. 

Since it was Amity’s idea to do this, she elected to put her name in first. She stepped up to the age line, expecting it to stop her, and…

Nothing happened, she crossed it just fine, as though the line was nothing more than chalk on the ground. The others seemed just as confused as her. Amity wasn’t seventeen, she had just turned sixteen. The other witches seemed as unaffected by it as Amity was, even Gus made it through, and he was definitely too young. Thinking it might stop Humans, but not Witches for some reason, Amity took Luz’s slip and placed it in the goblet for her.

The three of them drank their aging potions. Fred could barely tell a difference in their appearances. That made sense, as they only needed to age up a couple of months to get past Dumbledore’s age line.

“I think it worked!” Lee Jordan jubilantly proclaimed. “I think we should be able to get past the age line now!” The trio all raced down to the Great Hall as fast as they could.

"It's not going to work…” Hermione warned them, “You see this? This is an Age Line. Dumbledore drew it himself... a genius like Dumbledore couldn't possibly be fooled by a dodge as pathetically dim-witted as an Aging Potion."

"Ah, but that's why it's so brilliant!" Fred replied

"Because it's so pathetically dim-witted." George finished

Fred pulled out the slip of Parchment, it read in plain English “Fred Weasley - Hogwarts” With a deep breath, he looked at his twin and stepped into the line.

It worked, for about a second, until a loud sizzling sound came and sent the twins flying backwards. Fred landed on his butt ten feet away from the circle.

Fred looked at his brother, or who he thought was his brother. It was as though George had become an old man in mere seconds. Fred felt his face, he had become an old man too! The entire school was laughing at them. They must’ve looked pretty funny with beards longer than Dumbledore’s. They decided to join the laughter themselves.

“I did warn you,” A familiar old voice said, “I suggest you go up to Madam Pomfrey. She is already tending to Miss Fawcett of Ravenclaw and Mister Summers of Hufflepuff, both of whom decided to age themselves up a little too. Though I must say, neither of their beards is anything like as fine as yours.” The old man chuckled, finding their attempt humorous.

Fred and George left for the hospital wing, trailed by Lee, who was dying from laughter. When the students reached Madam Pomfrey, she scolded the twins for such a foolish idea, then kicked out Lee for disturbing everyone.

Madam Pomfrey forced the twins to take a bed, and gave them both a de-aging potion, telling them that they should be young again in time for dinner. Flanking the twins were two Hexside students, about the same age as Fred and George had been before they grew beards. There was a girl and a boy, the girl had her left arm in a cast, and both of the boy’s legs were in casts as well.

“What are you in for?” Fred asked the one to the right of him, a girl with green hair in a braided ponytail.

“Oh, my brother over there saw a tree that was moving on its own,” She responded, “and he insisted on seeing it up close”

“Ah, so you met the Whomping Willow, eh?” Fred told her, “That thing’s a bloody awesome tree”

“Bloody dangerous too,” George added. They both chuckled.

“Yeah, I figured that much out when it broke both of my legs and Em’s arm as well.” The male twin said. “Ah, I suppose we haven’t met, I’m Edric Blight, and over there is my sister Emira.”

“Well, I’m Fred Weasley”

“And I’m George Weasley”

“Why do you two have beards, and those two over there as well?” Ed asked

“We all had the same idea for how to get past the age line. We took a few drops of an aging potion to become technically seventeen so that we could pass it.” Fred explained.

“Let me guess, Dumbledore had accounted for that when he cast the spell,” Emira guessed correctly.

The Weasleys agreed. Fred noticed that George’s silver beard was starting to have some gray in it.

“We’re in the same year as Cedric and Angelina and all of these people that can compete. So we should too!” Fred complained aloud.

“We’re gonna be seventeen in April!” George added, his voice cracking with age.

“After you’re done being seventy?” Emira asked, laughing. Her golden eyes glistened in such a beautiful way.

“Quiet!” Madam Pomfrey barked at them, “You should be resting! not laughing!” Madam Pomfrey somehow thought the four of them would acknowledge her order. 

Continuing their conversation, Edric asked if Fred and George had any siblings.

“Got any? Our parents have seven kids including us two!” Fred replied,

“There’s our older brothers Bill, Charlie, and prick-I mean Percy” George started listing,

“Then our younger siblings Ron and Ginny” Fred finalized, rounding out the list.

“Damn, 5 siblings, that must be hard. All we have is our little Mittens” Edric replied, making the word mitten seem almost like an insult.

“and our father, he’s getting better at not spending all of his time in his workshop. Now that we’re getting to know him, he’s actually a pretty cool guy.” Em added. 

“At least our spawn point is out of the equation!” Ed finalized.

Fred laughed at the last comment, his beard now having a trace of orange.

As their conversation continued, Fred started feeling strangely attracted to Edric, which he shouldn’t be, Edric’s a boy, he’s a boy. Boys aren’t supposed to be attracted to other boys! But Fred couldn’t keep his eyes off of Edric, he was just so, so, so handsome! (I feel like this is falling flat on its face as a description, but the point is getting across, I think.)

At about 5 o’clock, Madam Pomfrey dismissed the Weasley twins. The Blights had been dismissed hours ago, but then they became "guests" to keep up the conversation. (somehow, Madam Pomfrey accepted that)

Fred was feeling just as spry and young as ever. So much so that he and George decided to go play some prank on someone, just for the hell of it.

“Wanna come with?” He asked the Blights. Their faces lit up at the prospect of a prank.

“First, we should get rid of these ugly beards,” Fred told them, so they skipped their way to the Gryffindor common room to grab their razors.

After they shaved, they met up with the Blights near the Transfiguration classroom. They had decided to turn all of the desks into chairs, and all of the chairs into desks. The Blight twins were convinced that it was just an illusion, but then they felt the objects and could tell that the desks truly had become chairs, and vice versa.

“Man, I gotta learn myself some Hogwarts magic!” Edric exclaimed.

Fred and George did their best to teach Ed and Em some basic transfiguration. By the time they had to go to dinner, Emira had successfully turned a pin into a needle, after much effort. Edric’s had done little more than dance around, but he was still doing better than most students after this little practice.

Chapter Text

Luz settled into the same seat she was in the previous night for dinner, the same crowd surrounding her. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were a bit late, and they seemed to have come from outside. Two people who looked identical to each other, and a lot like Ron, were seated next to Amity’s siblings. The Great Hall was decorated with Jack-o-lanterns, and countless bats flew near the ceiling. She noticed the Goblet had moved to be directly in front of Dumbledore’s seat. Everyone was wondering who the champions would be.

“Hope it’s Angelina,” One of the identical twins next to Ed and Em said.

“So do I!” Hermione breathlessly replied.

The feast seemed to take much longer than the previous night’s. However, that might be due to the sheer anticipation of the night’s announcement. Luz wanted nothing more than for the plates to clear and the Goblet to change its flame color and spit out the names of the four champions. She wasn’t alone in this, almost everyone in the hall seemed to be anxiously waiting for Dumbledore to finish eating. Does Hogwarts have a feast like this every day? probably not, they would all get fat pretty quick Luz thought, her stomach still full from the previous night.

At last, the plates returned to their spotless form, and Dumbledore got to his feet. On one side of him were the other three school heads, and on his other side were Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch. The school heads seemed as tense and expectant as everyone else, Mr. Bagman was winking at various students while smiling widely, and Mr. Crouch seemed to be rather grouchy, almost bored in fact.

“Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision,” said Dumbledore. “I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions’ names are called, I would ask them to please come up to the top of the hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber” he indicated to the door behind the table, “where they will receive their first instructions.”

Dumbledore took out his wand and waved it in a large sweeping motion, putting out all lights except for the jack-o-lanterns. Making the Goblet of Fire almost the only light source, its sparkling bright, blue-white flames almost painful to look at. Despite its luminosity, everyone in the hall had their eyes on it, watching, waiting.

The flames in the goblet suddenly turned red, sparks began to fly from it. Next, a charred piece of paper came out of it, which Dumbledore caught.

“The champion for Durmstrang,” He read, holding the parchment at arm's length so that he could read it by the light of the fire, which was now back to being blue-white, “is Viktor Krum.”

A storm of applause filled the room. Luz saw Viktor rise from his seat and slouch up toward Dumbledore.

“Bravo, Viktor!” The Durmstrang headmaster bellowed so loud she felt that her Mama Camilla could hear him back in Gravesfield.

The applause died down, and everyone’s attention returned to the goblet. Seconds later, it turned red again, and another piece of parchment flew out, which Dumbledore caught and held much like the first.

“The champion for Beauxbatons,” he announced, “is Fleur Delacour!”

The room filled with applause again, and Luz saw the beautiful girl that had asked for bouillabaisse the previous night walk up, and disappear into the same door that Viktor had.

As the applause slowly died, Hermione pointed out that the other Beauxbatons students were very disappointed. Disappointed was an understatement in Luz’s mind, two Beauxbatons girls had broken into tears when Fleur’s name was called. The goblet’s fire again returned to red, and a third piece of parchment flew out.

“The champion for Hexside is,” he announced, 

“Luz Noceda!”

Sudden shock filled Luz’s mind, I’m the champion?!? Me?!? Luz?!? How?!? Why not Amity? How am I the one the goblet deemed worthy? Her thoughts were racing at about a mile a minute as she struggled to comprehend that she was the champion. Luz got up from her seat, and Amity gave her a push to get started, Luz walked up to Dumbledore, the applause was almost overwhelming her. She went through the door where the other two had gone, narrowly avoiding tripping over the stairs. That would’ve been embarrassing!

As the door closed behind her, she saw a bit of red light come through. The room she found herself in was quite large, with countless portraits of Human Witches on the wall. They were moving in the portraits, like a video. Luz waved to one of them, and they waved back, creepy. How had she not noticed these before?

Though muffled by the door, Luz suddenly heard a wave of applause that felt louder than for the other three champions combined, the Hogwarts champion was selected. A few moments later, a tall boy with dark hair appeared through the door. Why are all of the other champions so attractive? Luz wondered, Krum was probably the least attractive of the three champions Luz was against, but his competition was so stiff, that even [insert famous attractive person here] would probably be the least attractive. 

Fleur Delacour was probably the most beautiful woman Luz had ever laid eyes on, her silvery-blonde hair and deep blue eyes were so hot. And her accent made her all the more attractive.

The Hogwarts champion was no slouch either, with his strong, muscular complexion and dark hair. Those gray eyes were so attractive. And he’s so tall too! His chiseled looks made Luz almost swoon. (God, this was difficult to write as an AroAce, but Luz would totally be like this around those two, so I did my best)

Luz stood by the large fire and waited for Dumbledore to enter the room, which was taking longer than she thought it would.

Harry sat there, aware that every head in the Great Hall had turned to look at him. He was stunned. He felt numb. He was surely dreaming. He had not heard correctly.

No one applauded, some people got up to get a better look at Harry, who was still frozen in his seat. 

Professor McGonagall got to her feet to whisper something in Dumbledore’s ear, who was frowning slightly.

“I didn’t put my name in,” Harry blankly told his friends, “You know I didn’t” He didn’t get a response, they only stared back at him.

“Harry Potter!” Dumbledore called again, “Get up here, please!”

Hermione gave him a slight push. Harry finally got to his feet and stumbled forward. It felt like such a long walk to get to that table. No matter how much he walked, the staff table didn’t seem to be getting any closer, and he could feel every eye in the Great Hall was glaring at him. After what seemed like an hour, Harry was finally in front of Dumbledore.

“Well… through the door, Harry,” Dumbledore told him. He wasn’t smiling.

Harry moved along the staff table. Hagrid, who was seated at the end, didn’t wink or smile, or do anything even remotely friendly. Hagrid looked as astonished as everyone else. Harry went through the door out of the Great Hall and found himself in a much smaller room, countless paintings lined the walls.

Viktor Krum, Fleur Delacour, Luz Noceda, and Cedric Diggory were all grouped around the fire. Krum was hunched over and brooding. Cedric was standing with his hands behind his back, staring at the blazing fireplace. Luz was admiring a portrait on the far wall. When Harry walked in, Fleur Delacour threw back her long, silvery hair.

“What is it?” she asked, “Do zey want us back in ze hall?”

It was like she thought he was delivering a message, not that he was a champion. Harry didn’t know how to explain what had just happened, so he just stood there, more awkwardly than when he first entered the Great Gall and sat on that stool three years prior.

There was a series of hurried feet approaching the door, and Ludo Bagman barged into the room, taking Harry by the arm.

“Extraordinary!” he muttered, squeezing Harry’s arm tightly, “Absolutely extraordinary! Ladies, Gentlemen,” He began, approaching the other four, “May I introduce - incredible though it may seem - the fifth Triwizard champion!”

Cedric looked nonplussed, looking from Bagman to Harry and back again as though he was sure he had misheard. Luz reacted similarly. Viktor Krum straightened his posture, his face darkening as he surveyed Harry. Fleur merely tossed her hair and said “Oh, vairy funny joke, Meester Bagman.”

“Joke?” Bagman responded, bewildered, “No, not at all! Harry’s name came out of the Goblet of Fire!”

Krum’s eyebrows furrowed. Cedric continued to seem politely bewildered. Luz was flabbergasted. Fleur frowned.

“But evidently zair ‘as been a mistake,” she replied to Bagman, “‘E cannot compete. ‘E is too young.”

“Well, as you know, the age restriction was only added this year as an extra safety precaution. And their names came out of the goblet… I mean, I don’t think there is any backing out at this point… it’s in the rules, they’re obliged, Harry and Luz will have to do the best they can.”

Krum, Fleur, and Cedric seemed surprised to realize that Luz was also underage.

“Luz is underage? Zis is most strange. I was sure she was seventeen.” Fleur realized. Luz was red with embarrassment. 

“Well, I didn’t exactly want to bring it up, and none of you seemed to doubt my-”

The door suddenly banged open, and a large group of people stormed in: Dumbledore, Crouch, Karkaroff, Maxime, Bump, McGonagall, and Snape. Harry could hear everyone in the Great Hall buzzing about Harry’s addition.

“What is ze meaning of zis, Dumbly-dorr?” Maxime asked imperiously, the top of her head grazing the chandelier.

“I’d rather like to know that myself, Dumbledore,” Karkaroff added, “Two Hogwarts champions? I don’t remember anyone saying that was allowed, or have I not read the rules carefully enough?”

He gave a short, nasty laugh.

“C’est impossible,” Madame Maxime said, resting her enormous hand on Fleur’s shoulder. “‘Ogwarts cannot ‘ave two champions. It is most unjust.”

“It is no one’s fault but Potter’s” Snape softly sneered. His black eyes alight with malice. “Don’t blame Dumbledore for Potter’s insistence to break every rule in the book, he’s been doing that since he-”

“Thank you, Severus,” Dumbledore firmly said, shutting Snape up. Dumbledore looked down directly at Harry, who replied by staring right back, trying to figure out Dumbledore’s expression.

“Did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire, Harry?” he asked calmly.

“No,” Harry replied, aware of everybody watching him intently. Snape making noises of disbelief.

“Did you ask an older student to put it into the Goblet of Fire for you?” He asked, ignoring Snape.

“No,” Harry vehemently replied

“Ah, but of course ‘e is lying!” Maxime cried

“He could not have crossed the Age Line,” Professor McGonagall said sharply, “I am sure we are all agreed on that-”

“Dumbly-dorr must ‘ave made a mistake wiz ze line,” Maxime Shrugged, 

“How else do you explain two underage champions?” Karkaroff said. Luz tried to blend into the shadows when he said that, she was clearly trying to stay out of the conversation. Harry wished he could join her.

“That is entirely possible, I am only human.” Dumbledore politely said.

“Dumbledore, you know perfectly well that you did not make a mistake!” McGonagall angrily told him, “Really, what nonsense! Neither Harry nor Luz could have crossed the line themselves, and Dumbledore believes Harry’s statement that an older student didn’t do it for him. So that should be good enough for everyone on Harry’s case.” She shot an angry look at Snape.

“Ah, yes, Luz Noceda, care to explain how you got your name into the goblet?” Snape barked at her. “Did you have an older student do it for you?”

“I-uhh, technically?” Luz stammered, Harry wondered what she was on about, “My girlfriend, Amity, put it in for me, but she’s not seventeen either, and she could cross the line just fine. I don’t know why!”

“Ahh, I forgot to account for our nonhuman attendees.” Dumbledore realized, “The line only works on humans under the age of seventeen. I forgot that Hexside’s students, other than Luz here, are all Witches and Demons.”

The adults seemed to take that answer from Dumbledore, thinking that Harry might have done similar.

Crouch and Bagman explained that Harry still had to compete, no matter what because his name came out of the goblet. Naturally, Maxime, Bump and Karkaroff were infuriated at the idea of Hogwarts getting twice as many champions as them. Bagman explained that the goblet doesn’t work like that, and they had to continue with five champions.

Mad-Eye Moody barged into the room, yelling at Karkaroff that he couldn’t just leave the tournament. Krum had to compete, thanks to a magically binding contract. The arguments continued for what felt like an eternity Moody was convinced that whoever put Harry’s name in did it to get Harry killed. They finally managed to stop the arguments long enough to get Crouch to tell the five champions about the first task.

“The first task is designed to test your daring,” Mr. Crouch told Harry, Cedric, Luz, Fleur, and Viktor, “So we are not going to be telling you what it is. Courage in the face of the unknown is an important quality in a wizard. The first task will take place on November the twenty-fourth, in front of the other students and the panel of judges.”

“The champions are not permitted to ask for or accept help of any kind from their teachers to complete the tasks.” Crouch continued, “The champions will face the first challenge armed only with their wands, or staff in Miss Noceda’s case. They will receive information about the second task when the first is over. Due to the tournament’s demanding nature, the champions are exempt from end-of-year tests.”

Crouch turned to look at Dumbledore. “I think that’s all, is it, Albus?”

“I think so,” said Dumbledore, who then dismissed the five champions.

The great hall was completely abandoned, and the Goblet of Fire had gone out. The room was only lit by the fading light of the jack-o-lanterns.

“So,” Cedric started with a smile, “We’re playing against each other again!”

“I suppose so,” Harry replied, at a loss for words. His head was in complete disarray, as though someone had robbed his brain clean.

“So… tell me” Cedric started, “How did you get your name in?” 

“I didn’t,” Harry replied, sick of being pestered, “I didn’t put my name in. I was telling the truth.”

Cedric nodded, but Harry could tell he didn’t believe it for a second. Cedric went down a set of stone steps to the Hufflepuff common room, as Harry began to ascend the marble staircase. 

Was anyone other than Ron and Hermione going to believe him, or would they all believe him? Harry might have thought about being the Triwizard champion, but that was only fantasy, a joke. He’d never actually seriously considered entering.

Someone else clearly had considered it, someone wanted to ensure he made it in. Why? To treat him? Somehow, Harry doubted his luck was that good. To see him make a fool of himself? Well, then they would probably get their wish. But to kill him? Was Moody just being as paranoid as ever?

Harry knew someone wanted him dead, that someone had tried to do him since he was one year old. But how had Voldemort managed to get Harry’s name in the goblet?

Harry gave the Fat lady the password, entering the Gryffindor common room as it was filled with noise.

Chapter Text

Harry entered the common room, and the wall of noise almost knocked him backward.

“You should’ve told us you’d entered!” Fred bellowed, looking simultaneously annoyed and impressed.

“How did you do it without getting a beard?” George roared.

Harry stammered that he didn’t know.

“Now you’ll be able to pay back Diggory for that last Quidditch match!” Katie Bell, another member of the team, shrieked at him.

Nobody wanted to hear that Harry hadn’t put his name in the goblet, not one single person seemed to notice or care that Harry was in no mood to celebrate. Lee Jordan had even wrapped a Gryffindor banner around Harry like it was a cloak. He couldn’t get away; whenever he tried to go to his dorm, people would close ranks around him, forcing another Butterbeer or snack on him. Everyone wanted to know how he had done it, how he had tricked Dumbledore’s age line and put his name in the goblet.

“I didn’t put my name in!” Harry repeated, his words falling on deaf ears “I don’t know how it all happened.”

“I’m going to bed!” He finally bellowed, after nearly thirty minutes.

Harry wanted nothing more than to find Ron and Hermione, some bit of sanity, but neither of them were in the common room. Insisting he needed sleep, he managed to squeeze his way into his dormitory.

To Harry’s relief, he found Ron sitting on his bed, still fully dressed.

“Oh, hello,” Ron said.

Ron was grinning, but it was a very strained grin. Harry remembered he was wearing the Gryffindor banner that Lee Jordan had tied around him. He tried to take it off, but it was very tightly knotted. Ron just sat there, watching Harry struggle.

“Congratulations.” Ron said finally when Harry had thrown the banner into a corner, “You got across the age line. Not even Fred and George managed that. What did you use, the cloak?”

Harry denied that too, saying for the hundredth time that he hadn’t put his name in the goblet.

“Why would they do that?” Ron asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I dunno, maybe to kill me,” Harry said, feeling very melodramatic.

“It’s okay, you know, you can tell me the truth.” Ron told his friend, “If you don’t want everyone else to know, fine, but why are you bothering to lie to me? Did you get into trouble for it? Isn’t the prize a thousand galleons, and you don’t have to do exams in June either.”

“I didn’t put my name in the goblet!” Harry repeated, feeling very angry.

“Yeah, okay,” Ron said skeptically, “You should get to bed. I expect you’ll need to be up early tomorrow for a photo shoot or something.”

Ron closed the curtains around his bed, hiding one of the two people Harry was sure would believe him.

When Harry awoke Sunday morning, he intended to try to force Ron to believe him, but he saw that Ron’s bed was empty, he had probably gone down to breakfast. Harry dressed and went down the staircase to the common room.

The moment he appeared, the people who had already eaten broke into applause yet again. The idea of going to the Great Hall and facing all of the Gryffindors seemed like the last thing Harry wanted to do, but it was either that or get cornered by the Creevey brothers. Harry decided to take his chances at breakfast, maybe his Hexside friends would believe him.

Harry opened the portrait hole, only to be face to face with Hermione.

“Hello,” She told him, holding a stack of toast in a napkin, “I brought you this. Do you want to go for a walk?”

Harry agreed, and they walked their way past the entrance hall, and out to the front lawn. The Drumstrang ship was sitting in the Black Lake, a door with no building attached was standing upright by the Quidditch pitch, and the Beauxbatons carriage was by Hagrid’s Hut.

Sharing the toast, Harry shared his plight with Hermione. To his immense relief, she believed him.

“Well, of course, I knew you hadn’t put your name in!” she told him, “The look on your face when Dumbledore read your name said that much! But the question is, who did put your name in? Because Moody’s right, a student couldn’t’ve fooled the goblet, or get over Dumbledore’s-”

“Have you seen Ron?” Harry interrupted,

“Erm, yes, at breakfast, with the Hexside students.” She said, hesitatingly

“Does he still think I entered myself?”

“Well, no, not really.” she awkwardly told him.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Harry, isn’t it obvious?” She despairingly, “He’s jealous! I mean, I know it’s not your fault that you get all the attention, but you do and Ron has all of those brothers at home, and you're his best friend, and super famous. He always has had to put up with being sidelined. I suppose this was just the last straw.”

“Well, tell him that I’d be happy, grateful even, to swap places. Tell him he’s welcome to have people gawking at my forehead wherever I go!” Harry bitterly said to his friend.

“You’re going to have to do that yourself.” Hermione shortly told him, “It’s the only way to sort this out.”

“Well, maybe he’ll believe I’m not enjoying this when I break my neck or-”

“That’s not funny,” Hermione quietly replied. “Harry, I’ve been thinking. You know what you’ve got to do, right?”

“Yeah, give Ron a good kick in the-”

“Write to Sirius! You have to tell him what’s happened. He asked you to keep him posted, it’s as if he expected something like this to happen. Here, I’ve got parchment, and a quill with me-”

“Oh please,” Harry retorted, checking to make sure no one was near, “He came back into the country because my scar twinged, if I told him I was a champion, he’d barge right into the castle.”

“He’s going to find out anyways, you’re famous, and this tournament is famous, but he would want to hear it from you,” Hermione told him sternly.

Harry hated it when she had a point. He took the quill and parchment and began to write his letter.

Dear Sirius,

You told me to keep you posted on what’s happening at Hogwarts, so here goes - I don’t know if you’ve heard, but the Triwizard Tournament is happening this year. First, a fourth school joined the competition, it’s called Hexside. Then, on Saturday night I got picked as the fifth champion. I don’t know who put my name in the Goblet of Fire. The other champions are Viktor Krum of Durmstrang, Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons, Luz Noceda of Hexside, and Cedric Diggory, who’s in Hufflepuff.

Hope you’re doing okay, and Buckbeak

Harry

He sent the letter via one of the school owls, much to Hedwig’s disapproval.

Luz awoke on Sunday morning still sore from the previous night’s celebrations, during which Eda had managed to sneak into Hogwarts and steal lots of food from the kitchen. She looked at her girlfriend, smiled, then got up.

“So, you’re finally up, eh?” Eda said to her. “Took ya long enough, it’s almost noon.”

“Congrats, though. You really deserve the title of champion. Not every fifteen-year-old has discovered a form of magic not known for hundreds of years, overthrew a dictator, and then went and helped create a new government in his place. You’re pretty special, kid. Don’t forget it.” Eda told Luz.

“Thanks, Eda” she replied, the reality of the tournament finally setting in. She really is the champion, she’s gonna have to do these three tasks. Maybe she would even win. 

Luz decided to call her mamá to tell her the good news. She pulled out her phone, only for her to have no signal.

Luz stepped through the portal door, showing up at the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch, she tried again to call her mother, but there was still no signal.

“Eda, is there a way you could get the portal door back into Gravesfield? I wanna talk to mamá Camilla” Luz asked of her mentor.

“Luz, getting the portal door back to Gravesfield would take days, someone would have to go through the portal, close it, and then carry the door with them all the way to where you need it.” Eda explained, “It links up to wherever I last had it, I normally like to keep it in that old shack, but Bump insisted on using it to get to Hogwarts. Sorry kid, you’re probably not going back to Gravesfield until the summer.”

Luz was disappointed, but she understood. She stepped back into the Owl House and sat herself on the couch.

A few minutes later, Amity came downstairs.

“Sweet Potato!” Luz cried, pulling her girlfriend into a hug. “Oh, can you believe it? Me! champion!”

“Yeah, I can believe it. There was a whole party last night, remember?” Amity replied.

“I remember, but it’s just so unbelievable! I’m the champion! Me! Luz!” Luz excitedly told her. 

Amity chuckled at her girlfriend’s excitement. “Well, I’m glad you're excited. Tell me, why did you take so long to leave that room last night?”

“Oh, Harry was in a lot of trouble, I was in a bit, but not nearly as much as Harry,” Luz explained to her beautiful girlfriend.

“You were in trouble? What for?” Amity asked.

“Well, since I’m under seventeen, they were really upset that I managed to get my name in the goblet. But it’s not like they could do anything about it. My name came out, meaning it ‘deemed me worthy’ or whatever, so I have to compete now.”Luz explained, “Poor Harry was getting torn apart by everyone for putting his name in, and being the second Hogwarts champion. He kept saying that he didn’t put his name in and he had no idea how it happened. The only people to believe him were Dumbledore and this weird guy with two different colored eyes named Moody.”

“Well, I’m glad you still get to compete. Do you know what the first task is?” The beautiful witch asked.

“I don’t know, they said it’s supposed to be a surprise.” Luz admitted, “Something about courage in the face of the unknown I think.”

“Well, whatever it is, I know you’ll do great.” The older witch told Luz, “‘course, not as good as I would’ve done when I was your age.”

Luz agreed with Eda’s sentiment, even if it was mostly just to shut her up. Then smiled at her girlfriend.

“So, after such an eventful day, why don’t we do something nice, just the two of us!” Amity decided.

“Like what?” Luz asked, wondering what her beautiful girlfriend had in mind.

“Maybe we could go to the library?” Amity offered, “Or maybe we could just hang out together in my study.”

“That sounds great!” Luz admitted ecstatically, she really had wanted a nice day to relax and be with Amity, so this was perfect!

And so, they went to the Bonesborough library. It was a beautiful day, by Boiling Isles standards, the sun was shining, and the trees were a beautiful shade of red.

When Luz and her girlfriend reached the study, Luz saw that a few books had been added to the shelf since the last time she was there. One of them in particular caught Luz’s eye, it was very thick and looked about a hundred years old, and its leather binding was solid black.

“Oh, that’s a book I borrowed from Hogwarts yesterday afternoon, it’s about all kinds of magical flora and fauna in the Human Realm,” Amity told her. “It’s kinda wordy though, there's only about five hundred species covered in those almost two thousand pages.”

“Wow, that’s tough.” Luz admitted, “So what did you have in mind here?”

“Well, we both love Azura, and fanfiction, soo…” Amity started, Luz got the hint.

“I would love to write some Azura fanfiction with you!” Luz told her awesome girlfriend. “What kind of premise for a story did you have in mind?”

Amity explained her idea, and together they spent the entire day doing nothing else but write Azura fanfiction. It was one of the most enjoyable days Luz had experienced in a long time. Amity’s ideas were so wonderful, and Luz helped make them go from wonderful to superb.

As they finished the second chapter, Luz smiled at the cotton-candy haired goddess, then kissed her on the cheek. “I love writing about Azura and Hecate falling in love, it’s one of my favorite fanfiction tropes” she admitted.

“Mine too,” The beautiful Blight told her, her face a bit pink from the kiss.

Luz looked at the time, it was almost eleven o’clock! “Amity, isn’t it a school night?”

“Yeah, it is.”Amity said, “Dad wouldn’t be too happy about me coming home this late, so maybe we should just spend the night here,”

“In your study?” Luz asked

“Yeah, maybe write some more, then we can cuddle up on the beanbag,” Amity said, her idea seeming brilliant in Luz’s mind.

Amity was so beautiful, Luz couldn’t help but admire her. She was so lucky to have such an awesome girlfriend. They wrote some more, and then around one in the morning, they finally went to bed, snuggling up together on Amity's beanbag chair that was larger than the desk on which they had been writing.

Chapter Text

Luz was sitting in Illusions 201, the professor was instructing them on copying objects. Luz was trying to pay attention, she really was, but she kept daydreaming instead. About Amity, about the tournament, about Azura, about everything really. 

“Could anyone tell me why making illusional copies of an object would be beneficial?” The professor asked the class. Gus raised his hand.

Gus answered something, but Luz wasn’t entirely sure what, despite her best efforts.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. A human that couldn’t be more than thirteen was the source, he had short brown hair and was probably no more than five feet tall.

“Sorry to interrupt, but is Luz Noceda here? Mr. Bagman needs her at Hogwarts.” He said,

“Luz has another hour of Illusions class, she can come when class is over,” the professor said,

“Mister Bagman insists that she has to be there immediately.” He told her, and Luz started gathering her books.

“Alright, I suppose she can go,” the professor started, “But Noceda, you’re meeting with me after school to cover what you’re missing.”

“Okay, see you then, professor,” Luz told the professor as she walked out the door with the kid.

The kid, whose name was Colin Creevey, brought her to an unused classroom in Hogwarts, most of the desks had been pushed to the walls so there was a large open space. Krum, Delacour, and Diggory were all already present. After Colin showed Luz in, he left, probably to fetch Harry Potter.

Joining the champions were a few other faces, one she recognized as Mister Ludo Bagman from Saturday night, and two others she didn’t recognize, one of them seemed to be a reporter of sorts, with blonde, curly hair that seemed entirely unnatural, the other was a gruff looking man behind a camera, who was smoking a cigarette and eyeing Fleur rather closely.

A few minutes later, Colin returned, this time with Harry. Colin was then dismissed back to class.

The lady who looked like a reporter quickly pulled Harry into a broom closet, Luz could hear her interrogating Harry with nonstop questions. The other three champions seemed to find this just as odd as Luz did. Eventually, Dumbledore arrived in the room and pulled Harry out of the broom closet, seemingly much to the boy’s relief. His arrival was joined by the other school heads, Mister Crouch, and an old man with white hair and silver eyes that Luz had never seen before.

After saving Harry from the power of journalism, he introduced the champions to Mister Ollivander, the old man, whose job was to ensure the full functioning of the champion's wands, by the way Luz interpreted it. She wasn’t entirely sure what that meant for her, as Stringbean was completely different from a wand, like what the other four had.

He called Fleur to him first, and he remarked that her wand was made of rosewood and a hair from the head of a Veela, apparently one of Fleur’s grandmothers specifically. So she was part Veela, that certainly explained her beauty. Mr. Ollivander cast a spell with her wand that made a flower bouquet come out the top, then said it was in fine working order.

He then called Cedric to him, apparently Mr. Ollivander had made Cedric’s wand himself. Apparently, it was made from the tail hair of a unicorn and ash wood. He complimented Cedric’s good care of his wand, and Luz saw Harry nervously try to clean his own, to no avail. Mr. Ollivander sent a stream of smoke rings out from Cedric’s wand, and pronounced it satisfactory.

He called Viktor to him, this one was made by someone named Gregorovitch and was formed out of Hornbeam and Dragon Heartstring. Mr. Ollivander sent out a sound like a gunshot out of Krum’s wand, and a few birds flew out from the wand and proceeded to go out the nearby window.

He called Harry to him next, Mr. Ollivander seemed to remember Harry’s wand quite well, which was apparently made of Phoenix feather and Holly. Mr. Ollivander seemed to take very long with Harry’s wand, but he eventually shot a fountain of wine from the top and pronounced it satisfactory.

Next was Luz, the Hexside witch, the one who was different from the rest. She brought out Stringbean and placed her on the table for Mr. Ollivander. But he seemed very confused by what to even do with her. 

“Erm, what wood is it made out of? Is it even made of wood?” The wand maker asked.

“Stringbean is a palisman, which means she’s an animal companion for me that I carved from Palistrom wood. That’s a tree native to the Boiling Isles. I carved her about a year ago with help from my mentor, Eda, whose family has a long history of Palisman carving.” Luz explained, “She’s not a wand like what the other champions have, Palisman are more akin to familiars than they are to wands, despite the fact that I use Stringbean for all of my spellcasting now that the Titan’s magic has dried up. And I’ve been talking for too long, haven’t I?”

“No my dear, you’re fine, I’ve never heard of a ‘Palisman’ before, it sounds very interesting. But just to make sure, could you cast a spell for me?” Mr. Ollivander said,

“No problem!” Luz said, grabbing Stringbean, who turned to staff form immediately. She cast a simple light spell for the wand maker, who seemed fascinated by the casting method.

“So you have to draw a circle in the air to cast a spell? Curious.” He said. “Well, I suppose yours also shall pass, though I do wish to learn more about it.”

Just as Dumbledore began to dismiss the champions to dinner, Bagman reminded them that they had to take pictures, which Harry seemed very annoyed by.

The photographs took very long to do, as Madame Maxime kept putting everyone into shadow no matter where she stood. But eventually, they figured out a way for everyone to be visible in one frame. Then they took individual pictures of the five champions, those took much less time.

Finally, they were dismissed to dinner, and Luz couldn’t wait to tell Hunter everything she had just learned about Human Realm wands!

Harry and Draco got into a fight, as always. They both sent curses the other one's way, but they're both terrible shots. Goyle got covered in boils, and Hermione's front teeth began to grow in length at an alarming rate.

“What’s all this noise about?” Snape's cold voice sneered.

Naturally, Snape sided with Malfoy's defense, not even considering Harry’s. He gave Hermione's teeth a look and he said that he saw no difference! That was really hurtful to Hermione, almost as much as Malfoy calling her a Mudblood mere moments prior. That was the cause of the fight.

Hermione decided to just go to the hospital wing, despite Snape's insistence on class attendance. She wouldn't be able to do a thing with front teeth that went down to her chest!

Madam Pomfrey took one look at Hermione's huge teeth and got her to a bed.

“What were you thinking? Getting into fights, I thought you were smarter than this Granger!” Madam Pomfrey scolded.

“it wafn't me, it waf Harry and Malfoy” Hermione managed through her beaver-like teeth.

“Well, that sounds like those two. I assume you want me to shrink those teeth of yours back to their normal size, is that correct?” Madam Pomfrey said.

“Yef, pleafe” Hermione responded.

After a few hours of careful filing away at Hermione's teeth, they were at the size they had been before. However, seeing an opportunity to make them smaller, the size of her front teeth had always been a part of her body she disliked, she decided to have them shrunk a little smaller than they had been.

The next day, an article was published in the Daily Prophet, written by Rita Skeeter, about the tournament. It clearly was more about Harry than the tournament. The entire first page was just a picture of him, the entire article was more of a colorful version of Harry’s life. There was a brief mention of “Flour Decor”, “Victor Crud”, and “Loose Noseeda” at the bottom of the last page, but no mention of Cedric at all. Hermione was offended by the awful journalism before her.

Skeeter’s article had called Hermione “stunningly pretty”, which was flattering at first. Hermione needed the self-confidence boost, but soon Pansy Parkinson was coming up with dumber and uglier things that Skeeter must have been comparing Hermione to, including a chipmunk, a squirrel, a baboon, a blobfish, an anteater, and eventually a naked mole rat. Hermione did her best to ignore Pansy, but it soon became too much to handle. Hermione avoided her by spending a lot of time in the one room in the castle Pansy would never dare enter, the library.

Hermione claimed it was only to help Harry with the summoning spell, which she was doing, but it was mostly to avoid Pansy. Viktor Krum also spent a lot of time in the library. Hermione didn’t mind his presence, what she minded were the fangirls that constantly were surrounding him.

The last weekend before the first task was a Hogsmeade weekend, so Hermione decided to accompany Harry out. Unfortunately, he insisted on wearing his stupid invisibility cloak.

“People keep looking at me now,” Hermione said grumpily as they came out of Honeydukes, large ice creams in hand. “They think I’m talking to myself,”

“Don’t move your lips so much then,” Harry offered,

“come on, could you please just take off your cloak for a bit, no one’s going to bother you here.” Hermione pleaded,

“Oh yeah?” said Harry, “Look behind you.”

Rita Skeeter and her photographer were just emerging from the Three Broomsticks. They passed right by Hermione without looking at her, much to Hermione’s relief.

Harry said that they were probably staying for the first task, which seemed rather likely.

“Why don’t we go and have a butterbeer in the three broomsticks, it’s a bit cold out.” Hermione offered, “You don’t even have to talk to Ron!”

Hermione ordered two butterbeers and slipped one of them under Harry’s cloak.

“I look like such an idiot, sitting here on my own,” she muttered, “Lucky I brought something to do.”

Hermione pulled out her S.P.E.W. notebook, disappointed that Harry and Ron were still the only members.

“Maybe I should try to get a few of the villagers involved in S.P.E.W.,” Hermione said thoughtfully, looking around the pub.

“Hermione, when are you going to give up on this spew stuff?” Harry asked pessimistically.

“When house elves have decent wages and working conditions!” she hissed back, “I’m starting to think it’s time for more direct action. Do you know how to get into the kitchens?”

“No idea, ask Fred or George, or maybe one of their new friends,” Harry replied.

Hermione glanced over at where Fred and George were sitting, they were joined by Lee, Ron, and those two older students from Hexside that Hermione couldn’t remember the names of, Elliot and Elisa? No, that wasn’t it.

“Hey look, it’s Hagrid!” Hermione told her cloaked friend, wondering why it took her so long to notice him.

Hagrid and Mad-Eye Moody, as if on cue, began to get up and leave as Hermione said that. Mad-eye’s well, mad eye, seemed to catch Harry, despite his invisibility cloak. Moody tapped Hagrid on the back, and they made their way to Hermione’s table.

Harry sounded rather surprised that Moody’s magical eye could see through his cloak. Hagrid bent down and read the S.P.E.W. notebook.

“Meet me tonight at midnight at me cabin, wear that cloak of yours” Hagrid whispered to Harry. “Nice ter see yeh, Hermione,” Hagrid then said loudly. The two staff members then departed the pub.

“I don’t know whether you should go, Harry,” Hermione started, “It might make you late for Sirius,” She added in a whisper.

Harry, being Harry, probably was going to go anyway, but Hermione had done her best to warn him.

Chapter Text

Luz was training with Amity, there was a huge skill gap against her in this tournament, so if she wanted to have any chance of winning, she needed to train as much as possible.

It was dark out, it was nearing midnight. Luckily, no one had thought to check if there was anyone in the Quidditch Pitch at night, so they could work as hard as Luz needed.

Suddenly, she heard a roar coming from the forest, which distracted her long enough for Amity to get a solid hit in.

Luz yelped in pain at the Abomination goop that hit her.

“Sorry Luz, but you didn’t block it!” Amity apologized.

“Sorry, I got distracted, I think I heard something coming from the woods,” Luz told her,

“Let me guess, you want to go see what caused such a loud noise,” Amity said,

“Of course I do,” Luz admitted, “I somehow get the feeling that it’s important,”

“Well, just don’t hurt yourself. Okay, Luz?” Amity told her.

“I’ll be careful, don’t worry,” Luz told Amity as she left the field and started going to the forest.

“Hey Stringbean, I think we could do with some invisibility right about now.” She told her power noodle, who happily obliged. Luz drew the spell circle in the air with her staff, and she suddenly became as transparent as the air around her.

While approaching the forest, she heard another roar, then a faint flash of light deep in the woods. Having now heard this roar twice, she quickened her approach.

When she finally reached the source of the sound, she saw that it was coming from dragons! Five of them! Each was being attended to by seven or eight witches, who seemed to be very overwhelmed by the sheer power of the dragons.

One dragon was silvery-blue with long, pointed horns. Another was leafy-green and smooth-scaled. A third was ruby-red with a bit of gold around its face, it was shooting a giant mushroom-shaped fireball at the sky. Another still was much larger than the others, and blacker than the midnight sky, it was much more lizard-like than the others. The final one was copper-colored and much smaller than the rest, though that didn’t seem to make it any easier to handle.

Suddenly, Hagrid and Madame Maxime, or who Luz assumed were those two, walked right past her, narrowly avoiding her. Somehow, someone or something knocked her over anyway, removing her invisibility spell.

Luz scrambled to get the spell back but to no avail. Hagrid had noticed her.

“Luz? What are ya doin’ out here?” The giant asked softly as if he knew just how much trouble she would get in and wanted to avoid it. “You should be in bed! It’s after midnight!”

“Uh, I heard a noise in the forest, and I went to investigate. I figured out what the source of the noise was, and now I’m just trying to get back to bed!”

“Wanderin around the forbidden forest at night is a great way to get yerself killed, what were you thinkin?” The giant said to her. Luz started to get red from embarrassment. Then she finally managed to get the invisibility spell working again. Stringbean is such a good little power noodle.

“Do all the champions got invisibility or summat?” Hagrid asked under his breath, finally continuing his walk with Maxime.

Now who knocked me over? And what did Hagrid mean by all of the champions having invisibility? Did one of the other champions knock me over while invisible? Luz wondered, approaching the dragons.

“Keep back there, Hagrid!” one male witch yelled, straining on a chain he was holding. “They can shoot fire at a range of twenty feet, you know! I’ve seen this Horntail do forty!”

“Is’n’ it beautiful?” Hagrid said softly, Luz could see the appeal, but not when she was starting to get the feeling that the first task was to fight one of these things.

On the count of three, all forty or so witches pulled out their wands and shouted “Stupefy” at the dragons, Luz had no idea what Stupefy meant, but it sure seemed to have an effect. The large black dragon nearest her collapsed on the ground so hard she swore you could have felt it in Hogsmeade.

“What breeds you got here, Charlie?” Hagrid asked, gazing at the nearest dragon with a look of almost reverence.

“This one’s a Hungarian Horntail,” The witch, whose name Luz supposed must be Charlie, said, “there’s a Common Welsh Green, that one’s a Swedish Short-Snout, that red one’s a Chinese Fireball, and that tiny one is a Peruvian Vipertooth.”

“I didn’t know you were bringing her, Hagrid,” Charlie said, frowning. “The champions aren’t supposed to know what’s coming. She’s bound to tell her student.” Luz was right, that’s not very comforting.

“Jus’ thought she’d like ter see ‘em” shrugged Hagrid, still enamored at the sight of the beasts.

“Five…” said Hagrid, “So it’s one fer each o’ the champions, is it? What’ve they gotta do? Fight ‘em?”

“Just get past them, I think,” Charlie said, which was a relief, “We’ll be on hand if it gets nasty, extinguishing spells at the ready. They wanted nesting mothers, I don’t know why… but I tell you this, I don’t envy the poor ones who get stuck with the Horntail or Vipertooth. The Horntail is about as dangerous on its front as it is on the back. And the Vipertooth can fly at speeds pushing one fifty kilometers an hour.”

Luz was relieved that she wouldn’t have to actually fight the dragon, just get past it, decided to go back and train a bit more with Amity.

Upon returning to the Quidditch pitch, she found deserted.

“Amity?” Luz called, “Are you still here?”

“Two naughty students out of bed? Oh, dear, dear. That won’t do at all!” A cranky old voice said. The source was an old man with a significant hunchback. “That’s a detention all right!” He said with concerning enthusiasm.

“You can’t discipline me, I’m not a Hogwarts student!” Luz said, not entirely believing her own words.

“Yes, I can, young lady. You’re on Hogwarts grounds, and you’re a student, that puts you under my discipline when you’re caught out of bed at night.” He said enthusiastically, “I’m sure you’re wishing your friend here hadn’t been making so much noise, eh?”

Amity looked at Luz with disappointment in her eyes, “Luz, I’m-”

“Amity, you didn’t do anything wrong, it was my idea to have us train here in the middle of the night.”

“Well, regardless of who’s to blame, you’re both getting detention!”

The old man grabbed both Luz and Amity by the collar and carried them into the castle. Despite their best efforts, the two witches were unable to stop the one man, who looked like he was pushing sixty and he didn't have to use a single spell.

At Midnight, Harry met Hagrid at his cabin, just as he had asked. The grounds were very dark, but he could hear something loud that was deep in the woods.

“Are ye there, Harry?” Hagrid’s deep voice bellowed as he looked around.

“Yeah,” Harry answered as he slipped inside the cabin, “What’s up?”

“Got summat ter show yeh,” Hagrid answered.

Hagrid seemed very excited. He was wearing a flower in his buttonhole that looked more like an artichoke. Luckily, Hagrid had stopped attempting to grease his hair, but he still had tried to comb it; Harry could see the broken teeth from the comb knotted in with his hair.

“What’re you showing me?” Harry wearily replied, hoping it wasn’t that the Blast-ended skrewts had laid eggs, or that he had bought another three-headed dog off of a stranger in a pub.

“Follow me, an’ keep yerself covered with that cloak,” said Hagrid, “we won’t take Fang, he won’ like it.”

“Listen, Hagrid, I haven’t much time, I have to be back at the castle by one o’clock,”

Hagrid wasn’t listening, he was busy opening the cabin door and walking in the direction of the Beauxbatons carriage.

Hagrid knocked three times on the door. Unsurprisingly, Madame Maxime answered it. She smiled when she saw Hagrid.

“Bong-sewer” Hagrid said in the most broken French Harry had ever heard. The two giants held hands and walked into the forest, Harry did his best to keep up.

The walk seemed to take forever, Harry was becoming increasingly frustrated at the clear waste of time when he fell over, must have hit a tree I didn’t see Harry thought, but it soon became clear that wasn’t the cause of his collapse, as Luz Noceda, the Hexside champion, became visible.

“Luz? What are ya doin’ out here?” The giant asked softly of her, “You should be in bed! It’s after midnight!”

(The scene continues as it did in part A)

“How’s Harry?” Charlie asked.

“Fine,” said Hagrid, still fascinated by the dragons

“Just hope he’s still fine after he’s faced this lot,” Charlie grimly replied, “I didn’t dare tell Mum what he’s got to do for the first task; she’s already worried sick about him.”

“ How could they let him enter that tournament, he’s much too young! I thought they were all safe, I thought there was going to be an age limit! ” Charlie said, imitating his mother, “She was in floods after that Daily Prophet article, He still cries about his parents! Oh, Lord bless him, I never knew! ”

Harry had seen enough, and he figured that Hagrid wouldn’t miss him since he was occupied by Maxime and five dragons, so he decided to head back up to the castle for his meeting with Sirius.

Harry didn’t know how to feel about seeing the dragons. Perhaps it was better this way, the first shock was over. If he’d seen the dragons for the first time on Tuesday, he probably would’ve passed out from shock in front of the whole school. Maybe he would anyway. He was going to be armed with only his wand, which felt more like a stick in his hand than a powerful tool of magic.

Harry sped up, he had just under fifteen minutes to get to the common room. He couldn’t remember ever wanting to talk to anyone more than he did then. Suddenly, he ran into something-or someone- very solid.

Harry fell backward, his glasses barely stayed on his face.

“Ouch! Who’s there?” a nearby voice said. Harry hastily checked that the cloak was still over him and he lay very still, staring up at the dark outline of the wizard he had hit. He recognized the goatee from a mile away, Harry had bumped into Karkaroff.

“Who’s there?” Karkaroff repeated, looking around in the dark fruitlessly. Harry remained very still until after a minute or so, Karkaroff seemed to have decided that he had hit a rock or something, and then Karkaroff continued on his way.

Harry took the opportunity to get back to the castle.

Since Maxime and Karkaroff were sure to tell their champions about the dragons, and Harry had seen Luz; that meant that Cedric would likely be the only one who didn’t know about the dragons.

Harry slipped up to the portrait, he had less than five minutes to get to the fireplace.

“Balderdash!” Harry gasped at the Fat Lady, who sleepily swung open. Harry climbed inside and luckily found it deserted.

Harry threw off the invisibility cloak and sat in one of the armchairs. He saw that the Creevey brothers’ attempts at making the Support Cedric Diggory badges change allegiance were still far from correct, as they were now stuck on saying POTTER REALLY STINKS . Harry looked into the flames and jumped.

Sirius’ head was sitting in the fire, nearly scaring Harry out of his wits. When Harry had reassessed the situation, he broke into the first smile he had for days. Harry crouched down by the hearth, and said, “Sirius, how’re you doing?”

Sirius looked different than he had the previous spring when Harry had seen him last. Instead of being very gaunt and having long, matted hair; Sirius’ face was much fuller, and his hair was short and neat. He looked about fifteen years younger, more like he had in the only picture Harry had of Sirius, which was from the Potters’ wedding.

“Never mind me, how are you?” Sirius asked very, well, seriously.

“I’m…” For a second, Harry tried to say fine, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so. Before he could stop himself, he was talking more than he had in the past week; about how no one believed he had not entered the tournament freely, about Rita Skeeter’s deceitful article in the Daily Prophet, about how he couldn’t go down a hallway without being sneered at, and about Ron, Ron not believing him, Ron’s jealousy.

“... and now Hagrid’s just shown me what’s coming in the first task, and it’s dragons, I’m a goner, Sirius.” Harry finished desperately.

Sirius looked at him, his eyes full of concern, those eyes had not yet lost the look that Azkaban had given them; that deadened, haunted look. He had let Harry talk himself into silence without interruption, but he finally replied, “Dragons we can deal with, Harry, but we’ll get to that in a minute, I haven’t much time. There are things I need to warn you about.”

“Such as?” Harry asked, his mood somehow getting even worse.

“Karkaroff,” He said, “He was a Death Eater. You know what Death Eaters are, right?”

“Yes, wait, Karkaroff was?”

“He was caught, he was only a few cells from me in Azkaban, but he got released.” Sirius told him, “I’d bet a million galleons that’s why Dumbledore wanted an Auror on staff this year; to keep an eye on him. Moody put him in Azkaban the first time.”

“He got released?” Harry asked slowly, his brain struggling to keep up.

“He said he had seen the error of his ways and he named a bunch of Death Eaters that had gotten away, they were put in to take his place. A lot of people in there hat his guts.” Sirius explained “From what I’ve heard, he’s been teaching the Dark Arts to every student that goes through that school of his, so watch out for the Durmstrang Champion”

“Are you saying Karkaroff put my name in the Goblet of Fire?” Harry asked.

“I don’t think so,” said Sirius, “But whoever did it had a reason, the tournament seems like an easy way to attack you and make it seem like an accident.”

“Looks like a good plan from where I’m standing, they just have to stand back and let the dragons do their thing,” Harry said, grinning bleakly.

“Right, dragons.” Sirius said, speaking quickly now, “Don’t be tempted by a stunning spell, there’s actually a very simple spell that’ll do the-”

Harry held up a hand for silence. Harry could hear footsteps coming down the staircase behind him.

“Go.” he hissed at Sirius, “There’s someone coming!”

Harry scrambled to his feet, hiding the fire. If someone saw Sirius’ face in the castle… Harry didn’t want to imagine that chaos.

Who had decided to take a stroll after one in the morning? Whose fault was it that Harry had to stop Sirius from telling him how to get past a dragon?

It was Ron.

“Who were you talking to?” he said.

“What’s that got to do with you?” Harry snarled, “What are you doing down here at this time of night?”

“I was just wondering where you-” Ron stopped himself. “Whatever, I’m going back to bed.”

Harry knew that Ron had not intentionally interrupted his conversation at such a pivotal moment, but he didn’t care; at that moment Harry hated everything about Ron, right down to the several inches of bare ankle showing beneath the trousers of his three-sizes-too-small pajamas.

“Sorry about that,” Ron said, his face getting red with anger, “Should’ve realized that you didn’t want to be disturbed. I’ll let you get on with practicing for your next interview in peace.”

Harry grabbed one of the POTTER REALLY STINKS badges off the table and chucked it straight at Ron as hard as he could. It bounced right off of his forehead.

“There you go,” Harry said, “Something for you to wear on Tuesday. You might even have a scar now, if you’re lucky. That’s what you want, right?”

He strode past Ron and went upstairs; he half expected Ron to stop him, part of him wanted Ron to throw a punch or something, but Ron just stood there in his too-small pajamas, and Harry, having stormed upstairs, lay awake in bed for a long time, fuming. He never heard Ron come up to bed.

Chapter Text

Luz and Amity were placed roughly into two seats, the old man who caught them sat across the desk from them.

“So, you thought you could escape trouble, eh?” he said, “thought you could get past ol’ Filch huh? What were you doing out on the field in the middle of the night? Students should be in bed!”

“Sir, I apologize for being out at night. But we were not aware that it was against the rules, and my girlfriend Luz, the Hexside champion, wanted a nice, quiet place to train for Tuesday.” Amity replied, staring at the ground rather than at Filch, “We assumed that the Quidditch pitch was a good place to go. Sorry”

“You’re both getting detention. From now until eight o’clock in the morning, you two are going to be cleaning the east corridor. Those goddamn Weasley twins made a mess of it again. And you can’t use ANY magic!” He told them.

“What?! We were out of bed and you’re making us clean for eight hours?!?!” Luz yelled.

“Make that nine o’clock.” He replied sternly. Luz wanted to protest how unjust it was, but she realized she should stop before they had to clean until noon.

The two of them begrudgingly made their way to the east corridor. Filch was right, it was an absolute mess. suits of armor were strewn about randomly; breastplates, helmets and gauntlets littered the floor. Someone must have let in a griffin or something, mud tracks lined the walls and floor.

Luz and Amity, being forced to manually clean rather than use magic, had to slowly mop mud tracks from the entire hall. The armor wasn’t easy either, they had to correctly identify which piece went where, and the armor itself, though sentient, was very unhelpful; they kept on denying that a piece was theirs, sometimes even if it was that suit’s.

At around six o’clock, by Luz’s watch, Dumbledore arrived at the corridor, which was looking almost clean, (the mud stains were taking forever). 

“Argus, why are there two Hexside students cleaning the corridor?” Dumbledore asked, his voice soothing, yet authoritative.

“They were out after bed, they’re in detention, sir,” Filch replied, a little sheepish.

“They are not students here, so Hogwarts has no authority to discipline them.” He told Filch, “If you wish for them to be punished further for being out late, please take your grievances to Hexside’s Principal, Hieronymus Bump”

Filch grumbled something about stupid teenagers, then marched off. Probably to go get laughed at by Bump.

“I apologize for the caretaker, Mister Filch, he has a sort of, distaste for students. As I’m sure you noticed.” Dumbledore told the exhausted witches, his blue eyes twinkling behind his half-moon glasses, “I recommend you two should sleep, you’ve been up working all night, and you have a big day ahead of you, Luz.” Dumbledore finalized as he waved his wand and the remaining mud tracks disappeared.

Luz and Amity readily obliged to such an idea as sleep, both of them gladly embracing the warmth and comfort of their beds upon return to their respective homes in the Demon Realm.

Around noon, Luz awoke from her slumber, and decided to go to the library to read about dragons, maybe Gus knew something about them, he had been reading just about every book he could get his hands on since arriving at Hogwarts.

Luz found Gus in the library. As usual, he was reading a book, this one was labeled Hogwarts: A History.

“Hey, Gus! How are you?” Luz said a bit too loudly, as Madam Pince hissed at her to be quiet.

Luz, lowering her voice, explained what she had seen the previous night.

“A dragon?!?” Gus whispered, “How are you supposed to get past one of those?”

“I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking you,” Luz told him, “You’ve read all of these books, maybe one of them was about dragons.”

“Hmm, have I read about dragons anywhere?” Gus asked himself, checking every book he had borrowed from the Hogwarts library, the only one proving to be of any use was a red book by Newt Scamander entitled Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, it covered several dragon species, including the Antipodean Opaleye, Chinese Fireball, Common Welsh Green, Hungarian Horntail, Peruvian Vipertooth, Romanian Longhorn and Swedish Short-Snout. Whatever kind of dragon Luz would have to fight, he could probably find information about it.

“So, Gus, did you find any info on dragons?” Luz asked, nervous about Tuesday. “‘cuz I kinda wanna be able to find a strategy.”

“Yeah! Do you know what kind of dragon it was that you saw?” Gus replied.

“Well, there were five of them, I think one was a Hungarian Horntail, another was a Swedish Short-Snout, I think another was a Common Irish- no, Welsh Green, another was a Chinese Fireball, and the last one was a Peruvian Poisontooth, no that’s not right, a Peruvian Venomtooth?-”

“A Peruvian Vipertooth?” Gus asked.

“Yes! That!” Luz responded enthusiastically.

“Well, luckily, this book here had info on all five of those!” Gus said, “Hmm, let’s see…” His speech began to trail off as he read on each breed of dragon.

A few minutes later, he finished reading. “Well, there seems to be a lot of variation in dragons, the Vipertooth is the smallest and fastest, only fifteen feet long on average, but top speeds have been reported upwards of a hundred and fifty kilometers per hour. And the Horntail is by far the largest, typically thirty-five feet long, but its top speed is only around seventy kilometers per hour.” He explained, “The Chinese fireball has by far the hottest fire, nearing three thousand degrees Celsius. The Short-Snout has a bite strength of nearly thirty thousand kilopascals! The Welsh Green isn’t the fastest, nor the largest, nor anything like that, but it’s consistently in the middle of each stat, it’s still a force to be reckoned with.”

“How am I supposed to beat one?” Luz asked.

“That’s what we’re here to figure out, right?” Gus replied.

“Yeah, but those sound really tough,” Luz responded, distraught.

“Well, this book lists them among the most dangerous creatures known in the Human Realm, of course, it’s going to be a challenge,” Gus said.

The two of them sat in the library for several hours., trying to figure something out.

“Maybe you could blind the dragon with a light spell, then restrict its movement with a plant spell.” Gus thought. “You’re very confident in the four glyph spells.”

“Yeah, that could probably work,” Luz said, happy that they finally had a plan.

“Alright, you can go practice that tomorrow after school. But it’s getting late, I should probably head to bed.” Gus told her. “Good luck on Tuesday.”

“It’s Dragons, the first task is dragons” That’s what Harry had told him. Although Cedric appreciated the warning, he wished it had come sooner, the first task was the following afternoon.

How was Cedric supposed to fight a dragon, and win? Dragons were some of, if not the most powerful creatures in the world. As stressed as Cedric was about the first task, he was sure the younger champions were way worse off. 

Cedric had two years of magical experience on Harry, and Cedric was also a top student. While Harry didn’t seem to be doing terribly in his classes, he also didn’t seem to be the best student; based on what the Weasleys had told him anyway. 

Cedric didn’t know much about the Hexside student, she was about a year younger than Cedric was, so he figured that her skill gap was probably only one year. But Cedric couldn’t worry himself about his opposition, he had enough on his plate as it was.

He was so lost in thought that he had missed the bell’s ringing. History of Magic was the perfect class to try to come up with a plan, Professor Binns was never going to bother someone, and his monotonous lectures could easily be summed up by taking a glance at the textbook. Binns’ lectures somehow had the ability to turn two pages from the book into an hour-long lecture.

Cedric was going to be late for Transfiguration. He rushed across the marble staircases, getting off just before one moved away from his destination, and ran to Professor McGonagall’s classroom.

“Diggory, you have no need to run to my class, I would rather have a tardy student than a sweaty one. Am I understood?” Professor McGonagall said to him.

“Sorry professor, I was late getting out of Binns’ class,” Cedric admitted guiltily.

“I understand, but do not make this a habit.”

Cedric took his seat near the front of the room, Wayne Haywood was seated next to him.

“Good afternoon, today we are continuing our lesson on turning objects into animals, then back again,” McGonagall started, “Could someone tell me why it is much more difficult to create an animal than a plant?”

Cedric raised his hand, “Because animals are more complicated than plants, and the more complex an object is, the harder it is to transfigure.”

“Correct, five points to Hufflepuff,” She told him.

Her lecture continued, but Cedric found it difficult to focus, for some reason a dragon kept appearing in his head whenever he tried to pay attention.

The bell rang, and Cedric made his way to the Hufflepuff common room. He wondered how he was going to defeat such a powerful beast. Perhaps he could use what McGonagall had taught that day in the battle. It would be difficult to master such difficult transfiguration so quickly, but Cedric believed in himself, he was top student for a reason.

Entering the common room, he dropped off his textbooks, except for the Transfiguration book, and left for the seventh floor. Wayne followed him, knowing that another person would probably be of assistance.

Reaching the seventh floor, they took a left. Upon reaching the blank wall across from the Troll Tapestry, he thought very vividly about training to fight a dragon, and a large wooden door appeared where the blank wall had stood.

“After you,” Wayne said, somewhat sarcastically. Cedric chuckled and stepped into the Room of Requirement. Inside, he found the room was in the form of an arena. As Wayne stepped in after him, the door closed. Cedric then saw that a dragon staring him down.

The two Hufflepuffs screamed, and the dragon blew fire at them, but they seemed unaffected by it, the flame wasn’t even hot. They realized that the Room of Requirement had given them a fake dragon for Cedric to train against.

Cedric decided to take his opportunity, he kept trying several methods to get past it; including a direct frontal approach, a bombardment spell to create a small explosion, confunding the dragon, using protego to block its fire, et cetera. What eventually worked was transfiguring one of the rocks into a dog to distract the dragon, then defeating it while its back was turned. This plan was foolproof.

The two students, exhausted from the training (Wayne had done little more than encourage his friend), decided to return to the Hufflepuff common room. The Room of Requirement sealed itself behind them. On their way down to the basement, Cedric saw Luz Noceda walking out the door.

“Hey, good luck tomorrow!” He called out to her.

“Oh, uh, you too!” Luz replied, “Good luck!”

God knows I need it He thought as he descended the stairs again to reach the Hufflepuff common room.

Cedric entered the room, and then immediately went to bed. He needed sleep because tomorrow was the big day.

Chapter Text

Luz awoke on Tuesday morning with a healthy amount of sheer, absolute terror. What she did not have was a healthy amount of sleep; nightmares had plagued her all night. She got herself into her Hexside uniform and came downstairs for breakfast.

“Morning Luz,” Eda said to her, painfully chipper, “Want some Griffin Eggs before you head off to learn the Dork arts?”

Luz agreed halfheartedly, trying not to focus on what she was going to have to do.

“What’s eating ya, kid?” Eda asked, her face showing concern, “Is it that tournament thing? You’ll do great! And I’ll be right there, cheering for you this afternoon.”

Luz appreciated Eda’s enthusiasm, but disagreed with her sentiment, “Eda, do you really think I can take on a dragon? No matter which one I have to fight it’ll turn me into a pile of ash before I can even react! I’m doomed.”

“Luz, you’re not gonna win the tournament with that kind of attitude! Do you think that was my attitude when I went into a Grudgby match back in my day? Of course not! I would’ve lost every game with that mindset!”

“Eda, this isn’t a Grudgby match, this is fighting a dragon!”

Eda didn’t budge, despite Luz’s pleas of incompetence, Eda kept believing in her.

“Now get off to Hexside, their champion shouldn’t be late on the day of the first task!” Eda pushed Luz out the door. They then waited for Hooty to cough up her books.

“Mmm, Mmm! Knowledge is delicious! Hoot Hoot!” The bird tube chirped. Luz took the books, which were clean, other than being a touch wet (she did not want to think about why Hooty’s saliva was completely sanitary), and placed them in her backpack.

“Bye Eda, bye King, bye Hooty!” She called out as she climbed onto Stringbean’s staff and flew to school.

The day went by annoyingly quickly, Luz felt like she had just sat down in Illusions 201 when the bell rang for 2nd period. Abominations 301 and Plants 237 felt similarly short. At lunch, the Illusions professor caught Luz just as she had sat down.

“I apologize for interrupting your lunch, but the champions must meet at the site of the First task now.” She told Luz.

Luz groaned but obliged. She did take her sandwich with her though.

“Good luck, Luz” Gus called out.

“You’re gonna do great!” Amity added.

“Better than great! You’ll do amazing!” Willow said.

“Go kick those Human Realm witches’ butts!” Vee said.

“Don’t die!” Hunter finished, he always had a way with his words. Even if that ‘way’ is a bit different.

Luz was led to the area at the edge of the forest where the Dragons had been on Saturday night, but she found that a tent had been erected, blocking the creatures from view. The professor showed her into the tent.

“Miss Noceda, my dear, there you are!” Ludo Bagman said to her as she stepped in. “Please, do come in! We’re still waiting on Mister Potter!” Luz saw that the other champions seemed just as stressed as her, Cedric was pacing around the tent, Fleur, who normally was very composed, seemed almost disheveled, and Viktor was looking even surlier than usual. Luz took a seat on the ground in a corner, trying not to have a panic attack.

After what seemed like hours, Harry was finally dragged into the tent. Mister Bagman greeted him enthusiastically, then took out a purple handbag as they heard the thundering of hundreds of pairs of feet around them.

“Now, ladies first,” Mister Bagman said to Fleur and Luz, who both reached into the bag and pulled out a miniature dragon. Fleur’s was a Common Welsh Green, and had a number four tied around its neck. Luz’s was a Peruvian Vipertooth, and had a number two.

Viktor, Cedric, and Harry followed suit. Cedric pulled out a Swedish Short-Snout with a number one, Viktor pulled out a Chinese Fireball with a number four, and lastly, Harry pulled out a Hungarian Horntail with a number five.

Since no one’s face seemed to show any form of surprise, the other students must have found out about the dragons as well. Ludo Bagman proceeded to explain the task, the five of them would one-by-one have to go face the dragon that they had pulled from the bag, in the order of the five numbers, and then try to steal a golden egg from the dragon’s nest.

Cedric went first. Luz was not looking forward to going next, and Bagman’s commentary was not helping. Luz didn’t need the play-by-play, and the audience could see it, so why does he need to announce Cedric turning a rock into a dog?

Cedric grabbed the egg, though, by the sounds of it, the dragon had gotten him pretty good. Now it was Luz’s turn.

She stepped out into the arena, her heart pounding so hard she thought it might burst from her chest. A beast that was longer than Mamá’s car and seemed about ready to eat Luz alive locked onto her with an intensity that sent shivers down her spine. Gripping Stringbean tightly, she drew a spell circle with trembling hands.

A blinding flash erupted as her spell ignited, causing the dragon to recoil momentarily. Luz seized the opportunity, quickly conjuring another spell circle. Thick, thorny, green vines erupted from the ground, reaching out to ensnare the beast, but it was quicker than she anticipated.

With lightning speed, the dragon lunged forward, its massive jaws narrowly missing Luz's arm by mere inches. She could feel the searing heat of its breath as it brushed against her skin, the stench of sulfur overwhelming her senses.

With a scream, Luz deflected the beast's attack with a hastily drawn spell, sweat beading on her brow. Desperation fueled her movements as she unleashed another blinding flash, the dragon temporarily was blinded but relentless in its pursuit. Barely managing to evade its fiery breath, she drew upon every ounce of strength to continue the onslaught.

The dragon inhaled. Its mouth filled with an orange light. Luz began to run from the incoming flame. Before she could get far, Luz felt the heat of the blazing inferno engulf her backside. 

Luz screamed in agony, but she had to continue. Ignoring the searing pain, she summoned another burst of light, hoping to ward off the Vipertooth.

Finding her light spell nothing more than annoying, the dragon attempted to eat Luz again before she could ensnare it. She tried to block its jaws to no avail.

The beast had its fang deep in her arm. The copper monster seemed pleased at having injured her. Oddly, Luz felt no pain as the fang sank deeper into her bicep. Realizing that her strategy was doomed, Luz had to think on the fly.

What would Gus recommend? Luz wondered as she struggled to not receive another venomous bite, Wait, Gus! Illusions! She had an idea, but would it work?

Luz decided to give it a try, she got the dragon off of her one more time and drew a spell circle as fast as she could. The fang that had impaled her fell out of the beast’s mouth. 

“Oh, good lord, that’s not a pretty sight!” Bagman announced, “If she makes out of this alive, she’ll be in the hospital until Christmas!”

Luz found the announcements unhelpful, and rather patronizing, she might be younger and less experienced than the other champions, but she wasn’t helpless!

Luz cast a new spell, and before the Vipertooth knew what was going on, two dozen identical copies of the Latina champion had surrounded it, and they all started gunning it for the golden egg. Now it was just a game of luck. The dragon started biting at the illusions, they were disappearing one by one.

She dove for the egg, praying that the dragon wouldn’t bite the real Luz.

The stands were filled with the sounds of hundreds of people cheering at the top of their lungs. The dragon backed off. Luz had gotten the egg! She had done it!

“Luz! Luz! Luz! Luz! Luz!” the crowd cheered at her. She saw Amity, Hunter, Willow, Vee, Gus, Eda, and King all sitting together in the front row of the stands. Luz smiled at them.

She was called back into the tent, now Fleur had to fight hers, then Viktor, then Harry. The Hogwarts nurse, along with Viney, tended to her wounds. Her arm had turned blacker than tar. Luz was no doctor, but she knew that wasn’t typically a good sign. She doubted her back looked very good either, it felt like shit anyway.

The previous champions had all gone, it was Harry’s turn. He would have given anything in the world to not have to fight that Horntail. Harry was going to manage to get himself killed in front of the entire school. Even if he didn’t die he would definitely make such a fool of himself that the Slytherins would never let him hear the end of it. But at least Ron would finally see that Harry wanted nothing but a way out of the tournament.

Krum stepped back into the tent. Now it was Harry’s turn to make a fool of himself, and probably get himself killed, that too.

He was put face to face with the Horntail, a massive beast that looked like it ate wizards for breakfast. Rather than try to fight it like everyone else had, Harry had a different plan, now to hope that it worked.

“Accio Firebolt!” Harry shouted at the top of his lungs. Every fiber of his being hoped and prayed that the spell had worked.

For a moment, Harry feared that the spell hadn’t worked, but then he heard it speeding through the air. He turned and saw his Firebolt hurtling toward him, stopping dead in the air beside him. The crowd was going wild, Bagman was shouting something, but Harry’s ears had tuned out whatever he was saying, listening wasn’t important right now.

He swung his leg over the broom and kicked off from the ground. As he soared upward, the wind rushing through his hair, the crowd’s faces becoming nothing more than flesh-colored pins and the dragon seemed smaller than a dog, he realized that not only had Harry left the ground behind, but his fear as well.

This was just another Quidditch match, that was all, just a Quidditch match, and the Horntail was just a very ugly, cheating, opposing team.

Harry looked down at the bunch of eggs and saw the golden one, which was almost glowing compared to the cement-colored ones around it. Okay Harry thought, diversionary tactics, let’s do this

Harry dived. The Horntail’s head followed him; he knew what the dragon was going to do and pulled from the dive just in time. A jet of fire was released exactly at the spot Harry would’ve been had he not swerved away.

“Great Scott, he can fly!” Bagman yelled, “Are you seeing this, Mister Krum?”

Ignoring Bagman’s comments, Harry flew higher, the dragon watched as he kept going in a circle. If Harry kept this up, it would get very dizzy; but he had better not take too long, or it would start breathing fire.

Harry plummeted to the ground just as the Horntail opened its mouth. Harry avoided the flames, but he was less lucky when it came to the tail. One of the spikes grazed his shoulder, ripping his robes.

He could feel the stinging pain, but Harry couldn’t worry himself with that now. Harry realized that the Horntail was very hesitant to take off, and he could exploit that. All that he had to do was keep flying higher, but not too fast so that the beast would keep its eyes on him.

He ascended, slowly, surely. The dragon’s neck was fully extended now, but it still couldn’t reach him. He was like a fly to it, an annoying, nasty fly that it was dying to swat.

Finally, the beast began to extend its massive wings. Harry dived to the ground. Before the Horntail knew what he was doing, he was speeding past its head at lightning speeds. He took his uninjured arm from the firebolt and reached out for the golden egg.

“Will you look at that!” Bagman yelled, “Our youngest champion is the quickest to get his egg!”

Harry saw the dragon keepers rushing forward to subdue the Horntail. Over at the entrance of the enclosure, Harry saw Professors McGonagall, Moody, and Hagrid rushing toward him. Harry’s heart felt lighter than it had been in weeks, he had made it through the first task, and he was alive!

“That was excellent, Potter!” McGonagall cried as he got off of his broom. “You’ll need to see Madam Pomfrey before the judges give out the scores. She’s just over there, and she’s already had to patch up Diggory and Noceda.”

“Yeh did it Harry!” Hagrid hoarsely said, “Yeh did it! An’ agains’ the Horntail, yeh know, Charlie said that was the wors’”

“Thanks, Hagrid,” Harry said loudly, stopping him so that Hagrid wouldn’t accidentally reveal his premature reveal of the dragons. Moody seemed pleased as well. 

“Right then, into the first aid tent,” McGonagall said.

Harry walked into the small, white tent with a red plus on it.

“Dragons!” Madam Pomfrey said, rather disgusted, pulling him inside the tent, which was divided into cubicles. Harry could make out Cedric and Luz in their own cubicles. Cedric didn’t seem to be too badly injured, he was sitting up at least. Luz on the other hand seemed pretty bad, another healer was tending to Luz, or so it seemed, they were holding their hands over Luz’s back.

“Last year dementors, this year dragons, what are they going to bring in next? Chimeras?” Madam Pomfrey complained, “You’re very lucky, this injury is rather light, it’ll need cleaning before I can heal it though.”

She cleaned the cut with some purple liquid that smoked and stung, then she poked it with her wand, and he felt it heal instantly.

“Now just sit quietly for a minute. Sit! ” Madam Pomfrey insisted, “And then you can go get your score.” But Harry didn’t want to sit still; he was too full of adrenaline. He got to his feet, much to the witch’s disapproval, and started to walk toward the mouth of the tent. Before he could get there though, Ron and Hermione came darting inside.

“Harry! You were brilliant!” Hermione said excitedly. “You were amazing! You really were!”

Harry glanced at Ron, who was very white, and looked at Harry as though he were a ghost.

“Harry,” he said, very serious, “whoever put your name in that goblet, I- I reckon they were trying to get you killed!”

It was as though the past few weeks had never occurred, as though Harry was meeting with Ron for the first time since becoming Champion.

“Finally caught on?” Harry said, “Took you long enough.”

Hermione stood nervously between the two boys, looking back and forth between them. Ron opened his mouth to speak. Harry knew what Ron was going to say, and didn't need the apology.

“It’s okay,” Harry said before Ron could get any words out, “Forget it.”

“No,” Ron said “I shouldn’t’ve-”

“ Forget it, ” Harry said. The two grinned at each other.

Hermione became overwhelmed with emotion at her two best friends reconciling.

Picking up his Firebolt and Egg, Harry felt more jubilant than he would have thought possible only an hour prior. They ducked out of the tent, Ron talking at a mile a minute.

“You were the best, of course, no competition really. Cedric did this weird thing where he transfigured a rock on the ground into a dog, trying to get the dragon to go for it instead of him, it only kind of worked though. Luz tried to hold the dragon down with giant vines at first, but when that didn’t work for her, she made a bunch of copies of herself to distract it. Fleur tried this thing where she put it to sleep, which worked, except for the fact that as it snored, flames came out its nose and got her. That was a little funny, I’ll admit. Krum was probably the best after you. But he didn’t even think of flying! He hit it with some sort of spell right in the eye. Only, it also trampled half of the real eggs, he got marks off for that.”

Ron finally took a breath as the two of them rounded a corner into the edge of the enclosure. The six judges were waiting for the champions, along with Krum and Fleur.

Cedric and Luz came closely behind Harry. Luz had to be supported by a Hexside student wearing blue sleeves and brown leggings, who fishhooks for earrings, and spikes in her hair. 

Cedric was given a final score of forty-six, out of sixty. Luz got a forty-seven. Fleur got a forty-five, and Krum got a forty-eight.

Finally revealing Harry’s scores, Madame Maxime gave him an eight, Crouch gave him a nine, Dumbledore gave him a nine as well, Bagman gave him a ten, Bump gave him an eight, but then Karkaroff gave him a four. Giving Harry a total score of forty-eight.

“ What? ” Ron bellowed furiously, “ Four? You lousy, biased scumbag, you gave Krum a ten!”

Harry didn’t care that Karkaroff had given him a low score, he wouldn’t have cared if that man had given him a zero. Ron was defending him, and that meant a hundred points to him.

“Well done! Well done, champions!” Mister Bagman announced, “Now, for information regarding the next task. It will be occurring at nine-thirty sharp on the morning of February the twenty-fourth. So you will have a nice break between now and then. But you will have something to think about in the meantime. Those golden eggs you all hold can open. You need to solve the clue inside to prepare for the next task. Good luck!”

And with that, the five champions were dismissed. Luz looked ready to collapse, Cedric wasn’t much better. Harry was sure that, despite his injury, he wasn’t all that bad.

“Good job, Cedric. Good job, Luz,” Harry told his friends. He spotted Rita Skeeter just outside the tent, and, knowing that he was going to be pestered, decided to accept it.

“Harry!” The slimy reporter said to him, “Could I have a quick word? How did you feel facing that dragon? How do you feel about the fairness of the scoring?”

“Yeah, you can have a word,” Harry said savagely, “Goodbye!”

And he set off to the castle with Ron and Hermione.

Chapter Text

The Hexside students all wanted to see Luz’s egg after the first task, so she opened it after the crowds had been dismissed. Poor Luz was going to have to spend the next week in the Healing Coven wing to recover from her injuries after the fight, but she could still open the egg.

Edric thought he was open-minded on the possibilities of its contents, but a shriek that sounded worse than nails on a chalkboard while being louder than an enraged slitherbeast was definitely not what Edric thought it might be.

Hunter yelled for her to close the damn thing, which Luz did with surprising difficulty.

After that catastrophe, the Hexside students were all told to go back to the Demon Realm for the evening. Ed and Em decided to ignore that order, the Weasley twins had offered to teach them more Human Realm magic, and they wanted any excuse to be with those two. After all, not every magic school boasted another pair of mischief-making twins, especially ones as charming as Fred and George. Saint Epiderm and Glandus High both were lacking in that.

Fred greeted them warmly, and they went together to an unused classroom near the Transfiguration class.

“So what did you think of the First task?” George asked,

“It was cool!” Edric said, “Hope Luz is okay though, that dragon got her pretty good.”

“I’m sure she’s gonna be fine, Madam Pomfrey can heal just about anything shy of going six feet under,” Fred told the Blights, providing Edric with some relief

“So, what magic are we learning today?” Em asked.

“I think we should continue our lesson in Transfiguration.” Fred said, “Have you two been practicing?”

“Yes,” Emira said

“Not much,” Edric admitted sheepishly.

“Okay. Last time, if I remember correctly, you two were transforming a pin into a needle,” Fred recalled as he demonstrated, “Can I see your attempts?”

Ed and Em tried to transform the pin into a needle, it was clearly a very basic transfiguration, but Edric still found it difficult. Emira turned it into a needle on her first attempt, but Edric took four tries before his transformed.

“Good job, Emira!” George told the girl, “Edric, that was pretty good, but you seem unfocused,”

Edric hated it, but George was right; he was unfocused.

Edric spent more time turning his needle back to a pin, then back to a needle, and back again. Over and over until it was almost second nature, then the Weasleys gave them a new assignment; turning a pencil into a pen. Both twins struggled with this one.

After an hour or so of struggling, a Hogwarts teacher that Edric had seen around the castle many times entered the room they were in, probably wondering what the noise was about. She was an old witch, and very tall too. Despite her age, her hair was still blacker than ink and was done neatly in a bun. She wore an emerald-green robe and a pointed black hat.

“What are you doing here?” She barked at Fred, who turned a handsome shade of pink, “And why do I get the feeling it’s nothing good?”

“Professor McGonagall!” Fred replied, “We were just teaching these two Hexside students, Edric and Emira Blight, some Transfiguration spells. Magic is very different at Hexside, and they wanted to learn, and-”

“You’re teaching magic?” McGonagall interrupted, “How very unlike you two. Your six-year-long trend would imply you were planning a prank.” McGonagall looked at the Red-headed twins skeptically. “Let me ask these two, Blight, was it? Are these two troublemakers actually using their magical skills in a productive way for the first time in their lives, or are they using you two as a cover?”

“Professor McGonagall,” Em started, “These two have really been teaching us Transfiguration. They aren’t lying.”

“My sister is doing better than me, but I feel that I’m learning pretty quickly myself.” Ed finished.

“Well, if that’s the case, then I would like to see your Transfiguration . After all, it’s my area of expertise.” McGonagall said.

Edric and Emira demonstrated their transfiguration. Emira’s attempt at turning a pencil into a pen was nearly perfect already. Edric’s was sloppier, but he managed it eventually.

“How long have you spent on this?” The old witch inquired.

“This is the second lesson from the Weasley twins, and the previous one lasted under an hour. That was back on Halloween.” Emira explained.

“You’ve learned this much in such a short time, impressive, it normally takes weeks for my beginning Transfiguration students to successfully turn a pin into a needle.” McGonagall told them, “You must be very gifted in Transfiguration magic.”

“Well, at Hexside, we are both Illusion students, among other things.” Ed told her, “So perhaps the skills transfer.”

“Perhaps,” McGonagall said. “Still, if you wish to learn Transfiguration, I am the Transfiguration Professor, a few pointers from me can go a long way. Would you like a few?”

The Blights agreed and regretted it almost immediately. She spent almost two hours explaining theories and laws that govern how Transfiguration worked. The material itself was dull, but the enthusiasm with which she gave it was palpable, which seemed to surprise the Weasleys. Perhaps she was glad to have students who actually wanted to learn, rather than a class full of people who would rather be anywhere else.

“Dinner will be served soon, I must get going,” McGonagall said, "Practice diligently and study the theories. These two troublemakers here might thrive on chaos, but they are undeniably gifted wizards. If you require further guidance and I'm unavailable, Fred and George Weasley are excellent resources."

Professor McGonagall then left for dinner.

“Hey, Weasleys. Do you wanna come over to Blight Manor for dinner tonight?” Edric asked nervously, he was normally smoother than this, but there was something about that Fred that was so appealing, “I think Dad is making phoenix wings tonight.”

“I’d love to come to your place!” Fred answered him, “Wait, did you say manor ? You guys must be rich then! What are you doing hanging out with commoners like us? The Weasleys are the poorest pure-blood wizard family in Britain,”

“It’s not like we go around flaunting our wealth!” Emira defended. “Besides, you guys are like, super hot- I mean cool! So of course we want you two over for dinner! Who knows, maybe Mittens will be there!” The Blights chuckled.

“Or maybe she’ll sleep in the library again!” Ed laughed, “What a nerd!”

The four of them laughed as they departed for the Demon Realm.

Of course, Peeves had to interrupt their departure.

“Ooh! What have we here? Freddie and Georgie! Have you two found love? And from Hexside students no less!” The poltergeist said to them, George didn’t know how, but Peeves somehow also knew their names. “Fred and Edric sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G, Emira and George sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G” The spirit repeated over and over. The four of them quickened their pace significantly, but they could not escape Peeves’ taunts being heard by almost the entire school as they passed the Great Hall.

Finally escaping the infernal poltergeist’s singing as they stepped out to the lawn, the Weasleys and Blights had all turned a vivid shade of red. It seemed to suit Emira very well, at least in George’s mind.

Edric lead the way through the portal. On the other side of it, George found a world unlike anything he had ever seen in his life. The trees were blood red, and they were just in time for sunset here, despite it having been hours ago back at Hogwarts. The sunset they saw was the most beautiful thing George had ever seen. The orange, violet, blue, and red were plastered across the entire sky like a work of art. Each moment seemed to unveil a new layer of splendor, as if nature herself was showcasing her finest work. George couldn’t help but gawk at it until the sun dipped fully below the horizon and the beauty had ended. George couldn't shake the feeling that he had just witnessed something truly magical, etched forever in his memory.

“Come on!” Emira cried at the humans, “You’re going to make us late!”

After the sunset ended, George came along with Emira and Edric to their house, which was a very large house, easily bigger than the Great Hall. It had a large, purple front door, and countless stained glass windows littered the walls of it.

“I thought you said you didn’t flaunt your wealth!” George exclaimed, awestruck at the scale of their house.

“Well, it’s been in our family since the Savage Ages, we can’t exactly help that it’s bigger than the four of us will ever need.” Emira defended.

Finding the argument pointless, George quickened himself and knocked on the massive front door.

A moment later, a purple goop-thing opened the door, causing George to scream in shock.

“Oh, don’t mind that it’s just an abomination,” Emira said.

“Completely harmless!” Edric added.

That did little to reassure George, the thing looked anything but harmless. And it was called an Abomination! What kind of crazy place was this?

The Blights calmly entered the manor, the foyer of which seemed to be the size of the Burrow, and they walked a path further into the house; seeming to almost forget about the two humans who had never been there before.

“Hey, Dad! We’re home! I hope it’s okay, we brought guests!” Emira announced.

“Oh, that’s fine dear,” a new voice replied, “I assume they’re staying for dinner.  Abomination, please get our guests something to drink.”

A moment later, another one of those purple goop monsters walked out from the hallway the voice had been coming from. It was holding a platter in its hand. The abomination groaned at the Weasley twins, who exchanged confused looks.

“Tell it what you want to drink,” Edric advised.

“Erm, I’ll have tea please, green tea, if you don’t mind.” Fred nervously said, George replied in same.

The abomination groaned, then disappeared into that same hall. A minute or so later, it returned with two steaming teacups.

“Erm, thank you,” Fred said as he took them and handed one of them to George. The abomination groaned, then departed once more.

Fred and George both took seats on the sofa, the Blight twins sitting in love seats on their flanks. George sipped his tea.

“Alright, the wings just need some time to simmer before they go into the fryer.” The fatherly voice said as he emerged from the kitchen. “I suppose I should meet the guests,”

Mr. Blight was a somewhat tall man, with unkempt brown hair and stubble that was bordering on a beard. He wore a gray lab coat covered in purple stains of the same hue as the abominations from earlier.

“Hello, Mister Blight!” Fred cheerfully said, “Pleasure to meet you! I’m Fred Weasley, and this is my brother, George!”

“Nice to meet you too, but please, call me Alador.” He responded tiredly.

“Will Mittens be here tonight?” Em asked her father.

“She plans to, but with Luz injured, I have a feeling it will be impossible to separate them.” He responded.

“Who’s Mittens?” George asked, feeling dumb for his lack of awareness.

“Our little sister, Amity.” Em told him.

They talked for about ten minutes, during which time George learned that Alador made abominations for a living, Hexside school separated students based on what magic they learned, (which made no sense to George, why not teach everyone everything?), and that until about a year prior, Hexside’s magic separation applied to everyone, not just students, but adults as well.

“Well, why were they forcing people to only do one kind of magic?” George asked, almost outraged at the mere concept of such restriction.

“The Empire told everyone for decades, no, centuries, that mixing magic was against the Titan’s will.” Alador told them, “The real reason was that Emperor Belos, it was the same person for the entire time, despite what imperial history books claim, wanted everyone to be branded with one of these,” He showed them his wrist, which was branded with a tattoo of a bit of abomination goop, “So he could cast a powerful spell and eliminate the entire population of the Boiling Isles.”

“His end goal was Genocide!?!” Fred cried, “This man sounds as bad as You-know-who.” he paused, “Well, I guess you probably don’t know who.” He then explained Voldemort’s mysterious rise to power about twenty years prior, and how he murdered countless people, especially muggles and muggle-born wizards and witches.

“Oof, he seems pretty bad, and you said that your friend Harry was the one who brought him down, as in that kid brought down this terrible dark wizard when he was one year old!?!” Edric said, surprised.

“Yeah, you-know-who tried to use the killing curse on him, but it somehow backfired and killed you-know-who instead. Harry was just left with a lightning bolt scar on his forehead. Nobody knows how he survived.” George said, “Pretty weird.”

“Oh, I forgot about the phoenix wings!” Alador shouted suddenly, running off to the kitchen. He returned moments later, claiming that an abomination had taken care of it and that dinner would be ready in about five minutes.

Moments later, the front door swung open, and Amity stood there.

“Hey, Mittens!” The Blight twins said in unison. Amity groaned at the remark.

“Will you two ever grow up?” She asked of them,

“Nope!” Em said.

“Whatever, I’ll be in my room, let me know when dinner is ready.”

“You might as well not bother with going up there, dinner is almost ready, you’re just in time,” Alador said to his younger daughter.

Eventually, the phoenix wings were ready, and George could not believe how good they tasted. They were like chicken wings, but spicy even without sauce, and way bigger too.

After a delicious meal, George and Fred reluctantly departed for Hogwarts.

“Thank you, for such a wonderful meal, and such nice, erm, hospitality!” Fred exclaimed.

“We hope to see you again soon!” George added.

The two of them returned to their common room, it was well after bedtime, but it was not like that had ever stopped them before.

“So how many things did you nick?” George asked his twin.

Fred put his stealings onto his four-poster bed, there were quite a few things: (I listed like, twenty things here, but I cut it because none of them were probably going to be even so much as mentioned later.)

“Aw, bugger! You got way more than me! I only nicked a comb from their bathroom!” George complained.

“Well, that’s what you get for being slow!” Fred mocked.

They both laughed heartily, then decided it was best time they went to bed. The day had been rather long, after all.

Chapter Text

Luz was sitting in Abominations 301, struggling to keep up after missing a week of classes.

“A Hogwarts tradition will be occurring soon. It is called the Yule Ball!” Professor Hermonculus said, “I expect many of you will wish to attend. But first, I must establish some things. The Yule Ball is a traditional part of the Triwizard Tournament, it is an opportunity for the students from the different schools to socialize closely. All students in the ninth grade or higher are permitted to attend, though you may bring a younger student if you wish. Formal attire is mandatory, you must wear either a white tie or ball gown uniform. The ball shall start at eight o’clock on December twenty-fifth, finishing at midnight.”

This ball thing sounded great to Luz.

“But that does not mean,” Hermonculus continued, “that standards of behavior will be relaxed. If I hear so much as a whisper that one of my students has been misbehaving, I will make certain that they are sent straight to detention for a week.”

That seemed a little harsh to Luz, but she wasn’t planning on misbehaving to begin with.

The bell screamed, and Luz gathered her textbooks and got ready to go to Plants 237. Before Luz could get out the door, she was stopped by Professor Hermonculus.

“Miss Noceda, the champions and their partners traditionally open the ball.” He explained, “So you need to ensure that you have a partner as soon as possible and that both of your outfits are appropriate.”

“Oh, a dance partner? That’s easy!” She said, immediately thinking of Amity

Luz turned around and made her way to Plants.

The bell screamed just as Luz sat down. The Plant professor, Mx. Everglow, was very strict with their attendance policy. Luz breathed a sigh of relief as Mx. Everglow lectured the class on taxonomy.

After what felt like an eternity, the bell finally screamed for lunchtime.

At lunch, she sat with Willow, Gus, Hunter, Vee (In her humanoid form), and Amity, everyone was talking about the ball, wondering who they would go with, what they would wear, et cetera. Luz decided that she would ask out Amity just after final period ended so that the entire school would see.

“Luz, how do I ask Matt out? I don’t want him to think I’m weird or a loser! But I really want to go to the dance with him! How did you ask out Amity?” Gus begged Luz

“Honestly, I was kinda freaking out like you are now, eventually Hooty owl pellet-ed Amity, and made us go through a tunnel of love together.” Luz explained, “God, I was so embarrassed, I was sure Amity would think I was the biggest loser ever!”

Gus nodded, unsure of how it would help him.

“After what felt like forever, we finally made it to the end of that tunnel and went outside. Hooty started throwing a tantrum that I hadn’t asked her out yet, and so I did, and then we held hands,” Luz continued, “Which was great, but also like, really awkward somehow,”

“Okay, and so do you have any tips for me?” Gus pleaded.

“I don’t know,” Luz admitted, “Just try to be yourself. You’re smart and cool, and really good with illusions, and you definitely have natural talent in Construction as well! Matt will definitely say yes!”

Beast Keeping 285, and Concert Bard Band without interest, though Luz did slowly plan out how she would ask out the most beautiful girl in the world.

On her way to Boiling Isles History, Luz saw Willow and Hunter both holding bouquets of flowers (Willow’s looked way nicer)

The two of them spoke in near-perfect unison,

“Willow, I think you’re really cool, and smart, and you’re such a great Flyer Derby captain. Will you go to the Yule Ball with me?”

“Hunter, I think you’re really cool, and smart, and you’re such a great Palisman carver. Will you go to the Yule Ball with me?”

“Yes, of course, I’ll go with you!”

“Yes, of course, I’ll go with you!”

Luz smiled at the humor of the unison of their asks. Then congratulated them both. Luz then glanced at the clock and saw she had less than a minute to get to history!

She entered the classroom as the bell screamed, but the professor didn’t seem to care. He had a lecture on Demon rebellions against the Empire to give.

As the bell screamed to release her from another monotonous history lecture (and she thought Human history was boring), Luz quickly gathered her things and made her way to her locker.

She gathered her wits and used a little magic to create a beautiful bouquet of pink carnations, heliotropes, red roses, asters, and peonies, with a fern in the center.

Luz asked Skara to play a piece to set the mood, which she did gleefully.

Amity was approaching the exit, perfect timing.

Skara played a beautiful serenade for them, and Luz revealed her bouquet. “Everything is so crazy right now, and I have no idea what my future holds, but it would be so cool if you were in it. So... uh…” Luz stumbled, “Amity Blight, do you wanna go to the Yule Ball with me?”

“YES!!!!” Amity said so loudly and excitedly that she knew everyone had heard it. “Of course, I’ll go to the dance with you!”

Amity took the bouquet and appreciated the flowers picked out.

“Oh, these are beautiful!” She exclaimed,

“Thanks, I uhh… grew them myself,” Luz said.

“You made a perfect bouquet,” Amity said as she pulled Luz into a hug. “And our dance will also be perfect, I know it,”

The small audience that surrounded them applauded. Luz saw Hunter and Willow embrace each other in the corner of her eye. Both Gus and Matt were nowhere to be seen.

“Potter! Weasley! Will you pay attention?” McGonagall’s irritated voice cracked, making Harry and Ron both jump.

It was almost the end of class; the guinea fowl they had been transforming into guinea pigs were all shut in a cage on Professor McGonagall’s desk (Neville’s still had feathers). The bell would ring any moment now, and Harry and Ron, who had been sword fighting with some of Fred and George’s fake wands out of boredom, looked up.

“Now that Potter and Weasley have been kind enough to act their age,” Professor McGonagall said, angrily glaring at them, “I have something to say to you all” She proceeded to explain the Yule Ball.

Professor McGonagall called above the noise, “Potter; a word, if you please,”

Assuming this had something to do with Harry’s sword fight with Ron, he gloomily approached her desk. Professor McGonagall waited until the rest of the class had gone, then said, “Potter, the champions and their partners-”

“What partners?” Harry stupidly asked.

Professor McGonagall looked at him as though she were trying to figure out if he was joking.

“Your partners for the Yule Ball, Potter,” she eventually said, “Your dance partners ,”

Harry’s insides seemed to curl up and shrivel.

“Dance partners?” Harry felt himself getting red, “I don’t dance”

“Oh, yes you do,” said Professor McGonagall shortly, “That’s what I’m telling you. Traditionally, the champions and their partners open the ball.”

“I’m not dancing”

“Yes, you are.” McGonagall said, “You are a Hogwarts champion, and you will do what is expected of you as a representative of the school. So make sure you get yourself a partner, Potter.”

A week ago, Harry would have said finding a dance partner would be a piece of cake compared to taking on a Hungarian Horntail. But now that he had done the latter, and was facing the prospect of the former, he figured he would take his chances on a rematch.

Harry had never seen so many people sign up to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas; he always did, better to stay in a nearly empty castle than go back to Privet Drive, but this year, almost everyone in the fourth year and above seemingly chose to stay. Everyone seemed to be obsessed with the Ball.

“Why do they always have to move in packs?” Harry asked Ron as a dozen or so girls passed them, shrieking with laughter, “How’re you supposed to get one on their own to ask them?”

“I dunno,” Ron admitted, “maybe lasso one? Any idea who you’re even gonna try?”

Harry didn’t answer. He knew exactly the person he wanted to go to the dance with, but Harry didn’t have the nerve to ask Cho out, she was a year older than him, very pretty, a good Quidditch player, and also very popular.”

“Look, buddy, you’re not going to have any trouble. You’re a champion, you just beat a Hungarian Horntail. I bet they’ll be queuing up to ask you out!”

Unfortunately, Ron was right. Within the next few days, no less than a dozen girls, most of whom he had never talked to before, had asked to be his partner.

The days passed, and no one Harry would have even slightly enjoyed the ball with had reared their heads, so Harry and Ron were starting to become desperate as the term came to a close.

“Ron, can we borrow Pigwidgeon?” George asked at dinner one day.

“No, he’s off delivering a letter, why?” Ron replied.

“Because George wants to ask him to the ball,” said Fred sarcastically.

“Because we want to send a letter, you stupid prat,” George said.
“Who d’you keep writing to?” Ron asked.

“None of your business.” Said Fred, “So, you lot got dates for the ball yet?”

“Nope,” said Ron

“Well, you’d better hurry up, or all the good ones will be gone,” said Fred.

“Who’re you going with, then?” Ron said.

“Blight,” Fred replied, his face showing quite a bit of red.

“Which one?” He flatly asked.

“Edr-I mean Emira” Fred covered.

“No, I’m going with Emira, you’re going with Edric,” George told him.

“Well, I wasn’t about to admit that in front of him!” Fred whispered to his twin, “I can barely accept the idea of me going with a boy to myself.”

“Have you asked them already?” Ron pestered.

“Oh, no we haven’t!” Fred said, turning his head across the table, “Oi! Blights! You wanna go to the dance with us?”

The Blight twins, who had been closely examining a sneakoscope (which was wildly going off), looked up at them, “Sure! We’d love to go with you!” They replied in unison.

“See? Piece of cake.” Fred said to Harry and Ron as the Weasleys left to use a school owl.

“He’s got a point” Ron admitted, “Wo don’t want to end up with a pair of trolls.”

The Hogwarts staff, seemingly still trying to impress the visitors from Beauxbatons, Drumstrang, and Hexside, made Hogwarts look much, much more festive than normal. Everlasting icicles were attached to the banisters of the marble staircase, the twelve trees in the great hall were decorated with everything from luminous holly berries to real, hooting, golden owls, and the suits of armor had all been bewitched to sing carols whenever anyone passed them. It was quite entertaining to hear “God rest ye merry gentlemen” coming from an empty helmet that only knew half the words. Though, Peeves seemed to like to fill in the gaps with his own additions, all of which were very profane.

Still, Harry hadn’t asked Cho out. He and Ron were beginning to get very nervous.

“Harry, we’ve just got to grit our teeth and do it,” Ron said on Friday morning, “When we get back to the common room tonight, we’re both going to have partners, agreed?”

“Err… okay,” Harry said.

But every time he saw Cho that day, she was surrounded by her friends. Does she ever go somewhere alone? Harry wondered.

Harry eventually bumped into her as she was leaving a Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson.

“Er- Cho, could I have a word with you?”

She agreed, unlike her friends, she wasn’t giggling, putting Harry at some sense of ease.

Cho just stood there, looking puzzled. Eventually, the words spilled out, a bit faster than Harry had wanted.

“Wangoballwime?”

“Excuse me?” Cho said,

“D’you… d’you want to go to the ball with me?” Said Harry, feeling his face turn as red as his Gryffindor tie.

“Oh!” Cho said, “Harry, I’m sorry, I really am, but I already said I’d go with someone else.”

“Oh,” said Harry, disappointed beyond measure.

There was a moment of silence.

“So, who are you going with?” He asked

“Cedric,” she said. “Cedric Diggory”

Of course, it was him.

Why couldn’t it have been literally anyone else in this castle who took his crush?

Ron’s luck apparently wasn’t much better, and Ginny was rubbing it in.

“This is mad,” Ron said, “We’re the only ones left who haven’t got anyone, well, except Neville. Guess who he asked? Hermione!”

“What?” Harry said, surprised.

“Crazy! I know,” Ron said, seeming to be in a slightly better mood, “She told him that she’s already going with someone. Ha! As if! She just didn’t want to go with Neville. Not that I blame her.”

Just then, Hermione climbed into the common room.

“Why weren’t you two at dinner?” She asked.

“Oh, because they were both turned down by girls they asked to the ball!” Ginny said.

“Well, I’m sure someone will have you as a date,” Hermione said mockingly.

Ron looked at her as though through a whole new light.

“Hermione, Neville’s right, you are a girl.”

“Oh, impressive, you figured it out,” she said acidly.

“Well, you can come with one of us!”

“No, I can’t,” Hermione snapped, “I’m already going with someone.”

“No, you aren’t,” Ron said, “You just said that to get rid of Neville.”

“Oh, did I?” said Hermione, “Well, just because it’s taken you three years to notice, Ron, doesn’t mean no one else has realized I’m a girl.”

“Right,” Ron said. “Well, Ginny, you can still go with Harry, and I’ll just-”

“No, I can’t,” said Ginny, “I’m- I’m going with Neville, he asked me after failing with Hermione, and I said yes. I can’t go otherwise.”

Ginny left to get dinner, but at the same time as she left, Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown entered.

“Wait here,” Harry said to Ron as he walked straight up to Parvati, then said, “Parvati, will you go to the ball with me?”

“I suppose so,” she replied. She then agreed to see if her sister Padma would be willing to go with Ron. The two boys had finally secured dates for the Yule Ball.

Chapter Text

Luz was the first one up, which wasn’t a surprise. She glanced at her watch, and it was six in the morning, impressively later than her usual time on Christmas.

She waited impatiently for everyone else to get up, which was a surprisingly difficult task. Finally, after what felt like two hours, but was actually only thirty minutes, Amity and the Twins all got up, followed eventually by Alador.

“Feliz Navidad!” Luz cried to her girlfriend.

“Merry Christmas,” she responded, still a little groggy.

The Blights and Luz all slowly made their way to the Christmas tree.

“Luz, why did you insist on having a pine tree in the middle of our living room?” Alador asked.

“It’s Christmas! That’s what you do!” Luz said, “Do they not have Christmas on the Boiling Isles?”

“No, but we do celebrate the winter solstice, we call it Joulutide,” Amity said, “It's very similar to what you’ve described Christmas to be like.”

Luz noticed that several presents had made their way under the tree.

“How did those get there?” Edric asked, referring to those presents.

“Well, Human tradition says that a magical figure called Santa Claus comes in the night and delivers them,” Luz said, “But firstly, Santa Claus probably isn’t real, and secondly, we’re in the Demon Realm. So I have no idea how they got there.”

The five of them examined the boxes, each of them had a tag on it, saying who they were to and from, Camilla had sent everyone something, and a few other people had sent gifts as well, including the Weasley Twins, Hunter, Gus, Willow, Vee, Eda, King, and Lilith.

Luz had the most presents addressed to her, so she opened the first one, which was from Camilla. First, she read the note attached.

Hey Mija,

Sorry I couldn’t make it to the first task, or to Christmas. Your Tia Maria was insistent that I spent Thanksgiving with her, and I couldn’t be in Scotland for the first task, and then back in time for the holiday. Work right now is busier than when I worked retail on Black Friday. You would not believe how many people are bringing in animals, mostly puppies and kittens, to the vet. Most of them are perfectly fine, we just need to give them their vaccines for rabies and the like. Seems like a lot of kids are getting a dog or cat for Christmas.

I know it’s no excuse to miss so many big things going on right now. But I just want you to know that I am SO proud of you, and the wonderful witch you are growing up to be. I have already requested the weeks of the second and third tasks off. I’m not missing those two for the world. Feliz Navidad.

Te amo

Mamá

Inside the box, she found a new sketchbook and a box of a hundred and twenty different Colored pencils (complete with a sharpener). Hunter sent both Amity and Luz a Palisman care kit. Gus had sent Luz a bunch of human (muggle) magic tricks, such as a deck of cards for sleight of hand, a ball and three cups, a top hat, a silly wand, and a stuffed bunny. He had sent Amity a book called “Big Book of Basic Illusions” (Amity had joined the Illusions and Healing tracks this semester).

Edric and Emira both received packages from the Weasley twins, inside they found all kinds of assorted objects Luz had never seen before, including something labeled a “Ton-Tongue Toffee” and a few wands, but Luz had a feeling that they weren't real ones. Camilla had sent both of them matching sweaters, Amity and Alador got ones too.

More gifts were received, but Amity saved her gift to Luz for last.

“Here, Luz, I got you something too,” Amity said.

“Oh, thank you,” Luz said as she opened it. Inside was a rather thick novel that Luz immediately recognized. “Azura book six! Oh, Amity! Thank you so much!” She embraced her girlfriend in a tight hug.

After opening all of the presents, the Blights and Luz spent the rest of the morning, and the afternoon too, just enjoying each other’s company. Around six o’clock, the four students all finally decided to prepare for the ball. Luz decided to choose the suit over a ball gown, she didn’t want to trip on the skirt and make a fool of herself. So she was made to wear a white button-down shirt, a white bow tie, a black tailcoat, black trousers, and a pair of dress shoes that were a size too big. The tie felt much too tight around her neck, and the collar wasn’t helping matters.

“How does anyone breathe in this?” Luz complained as she adjusted it in front of the mirror.

“Here, I can fix that for you, Luz,” Alador said, using abomination goop to make her collar a half-inch longer, “That should do it.”

He was right, it felt way better. Luz managed to get the rest of her outfit on. Looking in the mirror, she thought she looked pretty good.

The four of them departed for the Yule Ball at seven-thirty, arriving at the front gates at seven-forty-five. Amity was wearing a beautiful purple ball gown, a lovely pearl necklace, and a tiara that Amity claimed was her grandmother’s. Edric and Emira both were more closely matching Luz, with the same kind of black coat and white tie.

Luz and Amity waited impatiently for the Great Hall’s doors to open, Ed and Em had disappeared, trying to find their dates. 

At seven-fifty-five, Professor McGonagall called the champions to her. Luz saw a girl in a beautiful blue dress with Krum, a man with dark hair that Luz recognized from the Ravenclaw table was with Fleur, a girl, also from Ravenclaw, was with Cedric, and a girl Luz had never seen was Harry’s date. McGonagall told the champions and their partners that they would wait until the rest of the hall was seated, then they would enter the ball.

Luz looked closer at Krum’s date and realized it was Hermione. Luz didn’t recognize her at first, her hair was sleek and well done instead of its usual bushy mess.

Once everyone else was finally settled, the champions and their pairs lined up and followed Professor McGonagall. The main tables had all been replaced by about a hundred small tables, each seating a dozen or so people. Everyone in the hall applauded as they entered and seated themselves at the table near the front with the judges, though someone with trademark Weasley red hair was there instead of Mister Crouch.

Food appeared on everyone’s plates, and Luz could barely keep her composure as she ate the pork chops laid before her.

Dumbledore was telling Karkaroff about a secret bathroom he had found one night, Hermione was trying to teach Krum to pronounce her name correctly, (he kept calling her “Hermy-own”), and Fleur was going off about how Beauxbatons was much more impressive than Hogwarts.

When all of the food had been consumed, Dumbledore stood, asking everyone to follow in kind. Then, with a wave of his wand, all of the tables zoomed away to the back walls, leaving the center of the great hall clear. He also conjured a raised platform along the right wall. The weirdest combination of instruments Luz had ever seen were placed upon it; a drumset, several guitars, a lute, a cello, and bagpipes. An odd group of people walked onstage, they looked like a rock band that had left their razors behind in the seventies and were dressed in black robes that were ripped in countless spots. They picked up the instruments and the lanterns dimmed.

Luz stood and offered a hand to Amity. Together, they danced to the band’s slow tune as though they had danced together a million times, to be fair, they had danced together a million times.

Luz noticed Viney and Skara dancing together, Skara was graceful on her feet while Viney kept tripping over her own. Hunter and Willow were both clearly not dancers, they kept stepping on each other’s feet and bumping into other pairs. Gus and Matt were okay at it, but nothing remarkable. The twins were going along great with their partners, dancing with extreme gusto despite the slow tempo, though Ed’s partner had a face redder than his hair.

Harry kept tripping over his dance robes, he was rather grateful that Parvati seemed to know what she was doing because Harry felt like he was making a fool of himself. He noticed that Ginny had abandoned Neville, opting instead to be with a blonde girl Harry had never met. Dumbledore was dancing with Madame Maxime, which looked rather ridiculous, considering the top of his hat barely reached her chin.

Harry heard the final note from the bagpipe finally reach its conclusion. Harry took the opportunity to leave the dance floor.

“Oh, but this is a really good one!” Parvati protested as the Weird Sisters started a new song, which was much faster.

“No, I don’t like it,” Harry lied, leading them both to the back of the hall.

“How’s it going for you?” Harry asked Ron, who was opening a bottle of butterbeer.

Ron didn’t answer. He was busy glaring at Hermione and Krum. Padma was sitting with her arms and legs crossed, occasionally sending a glare Ron’s way. Parvati sat next to her sister, their demeanors were identical. Within minutes, a boy from Beauxbatons asked Parvati to dance.

“You don’t mind, do you, Harry?” Parvati said.

“What?” Harry said, rather stupidly, he was busy watching Cho and Cedric.

“Oh, never mind.” Parvati snapped, accepting the Beauxbatons boy’s hand. She didn’t return after the song ended.

Hermione soon took Parvati’s seat.

“Hi,” Harry said, Ron was silent.

“Hi, Viktor’s just gone to get us some drinks,” Hermione said, fanning herself with her hand.

“ Viktor? ” Ron said, “Hasn’t he asked you to call him Vicky yet?”

“What’s your problem?” Hermione asked, surprised.

“Well, if you haven’t figured it out, I’m not going to tell you,” Ron said scathingly.

The two of them quickly started arguing about Hermione’s choice of a dance partner. Ron saying she was “fraternizing with the enemy”, and Hermione calling Ron a dumbass.

Harry sided with Hermione, albeit begrudgingly.

“Are you ever going to ask me to dance?” Padma asked, annoyed.

“No,” said Ron, still glaring at Hermione.

“Fine.” Padma snapped, joining her sister and the Beauxbatons boy, who conjured up one of his friends so quickly you might just think that he had used a summoning charm.

“Vare is Herm-own-ninny?” Krum’s unmistakable voice asked.

“No idea,” Ron said. “Why? Have you lost your date?”

”Vell, if you see her, tell her I haff drinks.” he said, slouching off.

“Making friends with Krum, are you?” Percy said to his younger brother. “Excellent! That’s the point, international magical cooperation!”

Percy took Padma’s vacated seat; he saw Dumbledore dancing with Bump, Ludo Bagman with McGonagall; Maxime and Hagrid were cutting a wide path around the dance floor as they waltzed through the students. When the next song ended, Harry saw Ludo Bagman kiss Professor McGonagall’s hand and make his way back through the crowds, at which point Fred and George accosted him.

“What do they think they’re doing, annoying senior Ministry employees?” Percy hissed, watching Fred and George, “ No respect, those two.”

But Bagman shook off the twins rather quickly, and quickly joined Harry at the table.

“I hope my brothers weren’t bothering you, Mister Bagman,” Percy said very quickly.

“What? Oh, not at all!” Bagman said, “No, they were just telling me a bit about these fake wands of theirs. Impressive stuff for such young wizards! I’ve promised to get them in touch with a few of my contacts who work at Zonko’s Joke Shop.”

Percy seemed rather unhappy about that. Harry figured he was probably going to tell Mrs. Weasley about this the instant he got home. Bagman was about to ask Harry something when Percy interrupted.

“How do you feel the tournament’s going, Mister Bagman? Our department’s quite satisfied, the hitch with the Goblet of Fire-” Percy glared at Harry, “was a little unfortunate, of course, but it has been running smoothly ever since, don’t you think?”

Bagman and Percy got to talking about Ministry bull that Harry didn’t want to listen to, and neither did Ron, as he asked Harry if they wanted to take a bit of a walk.

Pretending that they wanted to get more drinks, Harry and Ron left the table, then edged around the dance floor (Luz and Amity had yet to stop dancing), and slipped out into the entrance hall. The large doors stood open, and the fairy lights (made from real fairies) twinkled as they went down the front steps. Here and there, Harry and Ron found a couple sitting on a carved bench, or walking together. Eventually, Harry heard an unpleasantly familiar voice.

“...don’t see what there is to fuss about, Igor.”

“Severus, you cannot keep pretending this isn’t happening!” Karkaroff’s voice anxiously said, “It’s been getting clearer and clearer for months. I am becoming seriously concerned, I can’t deny it-”

“Then flee,” Snape’s voice said shortly, “Flee, I will make your excuses. I, however, am remaining at Hogwarts.”

Snape caught two other students, along with Ron and Harry, eavesdropping. He deducted points from all of them, but Harry and Ron continued their walk. Eventually, Harry heard Hagrid speak.

“Momen’ I saw yeh, I knew,” Hagrad was saying, in an oddly husky voice.

Harry and Ron froze. This didn’t seem like something they ought to walk in on. Harry saw Fleur Delacour and Rodger Davies very occupied with each other while half concealed in a rosebush.

“What did you know, ‘Agrid?” Maxime asked.

Harry knew he shouldn’t listen, but it’s not like he could drown out Hagrid’s voice. He tried to interest himself in a nearby beetle, but it was nowhere near interesting enough to block Hagrid’s next words out of his ears.

“I jus’ knew, knew you were like me. Was it yer mother or yer father?”

“I- I don’t know what you mean ‘Agrid”

“It was my mother,” Hagrid said quietly, “She was one o’ the las’ ones in Britain. ‘Course, I can’ remember her too well… she left, see. When I was abou’ three. She wasn’ really the maternal sort. Dunno what happened to her might be dead fer all I know.”

Maxime stayed silent. In spite of himself, Harry took his eyes off the beetle and listened more intently. He had never heard Hagrid talk about his childhood before.

“Me dad raised me, but then he died, o’ course, jus’ after I started school. Sorta had ter make me own way after that. Dumbledore was a real help. Very kind ter me, he was…” Hagrid blew his nose very loudly, “So, anyway, enough abou’ me. What about you? Which side you got it on?”

Madame Maxime suddenly got to her feet.

“It is chilly,” she said, “I think I will go now.”

“Eh?” Hagrid said blankly. “No, don’ go! I’ve, I’ve never met another one before!”

“Anuzzer what, precisely?” Madame Maxime said coldly.

“Another half-giant, o’ course!” Hagrid said a bit too loudly.

“‘Ow dare you!” Madame Maxime shrieked, her voice like a foghorn. Harry heard Fleur and Rodger fall out of their rosebush behind him. “I ‘ave nevair been more insulted in my life! ‘Alf giant? Moi? I ‘ave, I ‘ave big bones!”

And with that, Maxime stormed off

“C’mon,” Harry whispered to Ron, “Let’s go…”

But Ron didn’t move.

“What’s wrong?” Harry said, concerned.

Ron looked at Harry very seriously.

“Did you know? About him being half-giant?”

“No,” Harry said, shrugging. “So what?”

Harry immediately knew that he was once again revealing how ignorant he still was when it came to the wizarding world. Harry realized that ”So what?” was not the response Ron, or most wizards for that matter, would have expected.

“I’ll explain inside,” Ron said quietly, “C’mon”

Fleur and Rodger Davis had disappeared, probably to a more private clump of bushes. Harry and Ron returned to the Great Hall, the Patil twins were sitting with a large crowd of Beauxbatons boys, and a couple girls. Hermione was once again dancing with Krum, Luz and Amity had finally taken a break from dancing, and were laughing at something Gus had said.

“So?” Harry prompted, “What’s the problem with giants?”

Ron proceeded to try to explain to a dumbfounded Harry that giants aren’t welcome in Wizarding society, and they were almost extinct because of Wizards.

The Weird sisters finished playing at twelve o’clock sharp, and everyone gave them a last, loud round of applause. Many people seemed to wish the ball could go on for longer, but Harry was perfectly content going to bed.

Out in the entrance hall, Harry saw Hermione saying goodbye to Krum before he went on the ship. She gave Ron a very cold look as she swept past him and climbed the marble stairs. Harry suddenly heard someone call his name.

“Hey! Harry!”

It was Cedric Diggory, grinning widely. Why does he have to be so cheerful? Harry wondered.

“Yeah?” Harry said coldly.

Cedric looked as though he didn’t want to say whatever it was near Ron.

“Listen…” Cedric said softly, “I owe you one for telling me about the dragons. You know that egg? Does yours wail when you open it?”

“Yeah,” Harry said.

“Well, take a bath, okay?”

“What?”

“Take a bath, and, err, take the egg with you, and, err, just kinda, mull it over in the hot water. I think it’ll help, trust me.”

Harry stared blankly at his fellow champion.

“Tell you what,” He said, “Use the prefect’s bathroom. Fourth door to the left of that statue of Boris the Bewildered on the fifth floor. The password is ‘pine fresh’. Gotta go, see you Harry,”

Cedric grinned at Harry, then went back to be with Cho.

Harry walked back to Gryffindor Tower alone. That was some strange advice , Harry thought, How would a bath help? Is Cedric pulling my leg, trying to make me look like a fool so Cho would like him even more by comparison?

The fat lady and her friend Vi were snoozing in the picture over the portrait hole, Harry had to yell the password before he woke them up. When he finally climbed in, he found Ron and Hermione’s argument wasn’t quite over. But Harry, wanting to stay on speaking terms with them both, decided to keep his mouth shut.

Chapter Text

On the Friday before the new term began, Willow had finally decided to take a more in-depth look at the Hogwarts Castle. They were allowed anywhere on the property except for the common rooms, but it’s not like Willow could have gotten in anyway, they were all blocked off by a password or trick. Willow instead explored the rest of the giant castle. She eventually found a set of greenhouses on the far side of it. 

Willow saw through the windows that they were full of all sorts of incredible plants, unlike anything in the Demon Realm. There were flowers with diameters over six feet, and smaller ones of any color Willow could imagine.

Inside, she saw that vines were covering every available surface and a large table in the center with pots full of even more plants. This room was almost as beautiful and full of life as the Plant homeroom!

Before Willow could even begin to comprehend her surroundings, a nervous voice sounded behind her.

“W-What are you doing here?” The voice said.

Willow turned around and was face to face with a short Hogwarts student with just as short blond hair. He was in Gryffindor based on his uniform. She probably looked intimidating to the boy. Her eyes were glowing green out of excitement for all of the new plants she had seen. And despite her being maybe two inches taller than him normally, she was atop a few vines she had unintentionally summoned so that she could get a better look at the greenhouse.

“Nobody is supposed to be here outside of classes,” the boy said meekly, 

“I guess that raises the question of why I’m here” he added.

Willow’s eyes turned back to their normal, non-glowing green, and she moved the vines back to where they had been.

“Sorry, I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to be in here, I just saw all of these cool plants and wanted a closer look,” Willow said. “So, why are you here?”

“I wanted to make sure the plants were doing well, it’s been a brutal start to the winter, and I need to make sure that these poor things are okay.” He said with a bit of confidence.

“Well, I’m no expert on Human Realm plants, despite the time I’ve spent in this realm.” Willow said, “But they all seem fine to me, none of them are crying for warmth, though that one in the corner could do with a little more water.” She pointed to a plant that looked like an Aloe Vera, except for its blue leaves.

“How, how do you know that?” he asked.

“Uhh, Magic?” Willow offered, “Is that not how it works here?”

“No, we just have to know what the plant needs,” He said, watering the Aloe Coeruleus. “By the way, I don’t think I caught your name. I’m Neville, Neville Longbottom.”

“Hi, Neville. I’m Willow Park.” Willow said. “Well, I guess the plants in here are happy, there are other greenhouses, do you want me to check those as well?”

“Err.. sure. I guess” Neville said. Willow went to the other greenhouses, there were quite a few of them. They were all full of rather contented plants. One of them had a lot of strange, humanoid plants that seemed very upset over nothing.

She asked the plants what was wrong, and none of them gave an answer. Willow decided that they were probably just being annoying, though it killed her to leave them while they were so upset.

When Willow returned to the greenhouse she had started in, she found Neville was tending carefully to one of the plants, a strange cactus-like plant with boils covering its surface.

“Oh! Hi, Willow!” He said awkwardly, quickly hiding the plant.

 “I was just wondering,” he started, “Why were your eyes glowing earlier? Is that normal for you Demon Realm Witches? Because that’s not normal here, and I, err, I don’t want to seem rude, but I’m really curious!”

“Oh, my eyes? Our eyes glow when we experience extreme emotion, it’s due to our bile sac pumping extra magical phlegm through our veins.” Willow explained, “Our magic also becomes more powerful. Luz compared it to something Humans have called Adrenaline.”

“And how are you controlling the plants so easily like that? And how did you know the Aloe Coeruleus needed water like that?” Neville asked. His face was a mix of confusion and child-like curiosity.

“Well, you see the green and blue on my uniform? That’s representative of the magic tracks I’m studying at Hexside, Plant and Healing.” Willow explained, “So I’m very in tune with plants’ needs.”

“And what are plants like in the Demon Realm? I’m sure they’re nothing like anything they have in Herbology class here!” Neville said excitedly.

Willow explained the blood-red trees and man-eating flowers of her home. Neville was clinging to her every word, desperate to know more about the Demon Realm’s flora.

When Willow got to Palistrom trees, Neville stopped her.

“Wait, that sounds a lot like making our wands here!” he said, “But the wood isn’t the only part, they also have a magical core in them. Mine has unicorn hair for example.”

“Well, Palismen, like Clover here,” Willow’s buzzy companion landed on her shoulder after having been flying around, “Are just carvings of palistrom wood until they bond with a Witch. After which they become like this!”

Willow spotted a huge beetle chomping on a plant leaf. It was bigger than any beetle Willow had ever seen, in the Human or Demon Realms, it was at least two inches long. Willow almost died of fright at the sight of it.

Neville took care of the terrifying thing with ease. but instead of squashing it, he got it in his hands and let it out the window.

“The poor plant,” Willow said, “It’s crying out in pain.” Neville seemed sympathetic, though not exactly as worried about the plant’s well-being.

“It’ll be fine, it was just a beetle,” He said, “Though, I’ve never seen one that large before.”

“Well, bugs aren’t exactly something I’m a fan of,” Willow admitted, “I’m glad I wasn’t chosen to fight Grom, I’d be stuck fighting a bunch of beetles, fire bees, and praying man-eaters.”

“What’s Grom?” Neville asked, “Is it a sort of insect hive-mind?”

“No,” Willow said, “It’s a demon that lives under Hexside, it takes the form of your greatest fears. Every year it tries to escape, and some poor, unfortunate soul has to go and fight it. Last year it was initially going to be Amity, but Luz fought it instead. Luz wasn’t strong enough to face her fear, but with Amity’s help they defeated it together,” Willow paused. “This year I have no idea who it’s going to be, though I really hope it’s not Hunter. We all know what his fear is, and I don’t think the school needs to show that.”

After he digested Willow's explanation, Neville started to tell her all about Human Realm plants, showing his fascination with Human Realm flora. Willow and Neville both left the encounter with a newfound fondness for what the other realm had to offer.

The start of the new term came much sooner than Ron would have liked. Why couldn’t the break have been a few more days?

The weather was miserable on their first day back, there was a foot of snow, fast winds, and temperatures well below freezing. No one was looking forward to Care of Magical Creatures, though Ron thought that perhaps the Skrewts would warm them up.

However, when they arrived at Hagrid’s cabin, the lovable half-giant was not there to greet them, instead they were met by an elderly witch with short gray hair.

“Hurry up!” she barked at them as they trudged through the snow.

“Who’re you?” Ron asked, “Where’s Hagrid?”

“My name is Professor Grubbly-Plank,” she said briskly, “I am your temporary Care of Magical Creatures teacher.”

“Where’s Hagrid?” Harry echoed loudly.

“He is indisposed.” She said.

Short, unpleasant laughter erupted from the Slytherins.

The substitute led the class toward the paddock where the Beauxbatons horses stood and showed the class a unicorn but insisted the boys stay back. (How very sexist)

Harry and Ron pestered more about Hagrid’s well-being until finally, Malfoy shoved the latest issue of The Daily Prophet in their faces.

“There you go,” Malfoy said coldly, “Hate to break it to you Potter.”

It was an article written by Rita Skeeter. Apparently, she somehow knew he was a half-giant, and she went on and on about how his mother was a killer who worked for Voldemort, that Dumbledore should never have hired him, that his lessons were dangerous to students, that the students were all scared of him, and so on.

Ron finished reading the article and looked up at Harry. Ron’s mouth was hanging open.

“Well, I think that’s the end of the oaf’s teaching career,” Malfoy snickered, “Half-giant… and here I was thinking he’d just swallowed a bottle of Skele-Gro when he was young.”

“Are you paying attention over there?” Professor Grubbly-Plank’s voice carried to the boys. All of the girls in class were gathered around the unicorn. She was listing the unicorn’s many magical properties in a loud voice so the boys could hear too.

After the lesson, all of the girls talked about how they hoped she would stay, that she was better than Hagrid, et cetera. Harry, Ron, and Hermione all wanted Hagrid back though, so they planned to visit him that night.

“Hagrid, it’s us!” Harry shouted as he banged on the door to his cabin. “Open up!”

But Hagrid didn’t answer, Fang whined and scratched at the door. But there was no response, no matter how long they pestered. They eventually gave up for the night, though they tried again and again every night.

There was a Hogsmeade visit halfway through January, and they all decided to go. However, Hermione insisted that Harry should stay back and figure out the egg. 

The three of them made their way through the slush to the Three Broomsticks, where they thought they might run into their favorite teacher, or at least their favorite teacher who bought dragons from strangers in pubs and raised three-headed dogs.

Instead of running into Hagrid, instead, they found Ludo Bagman, which was odd, considering that there was no Triwizard Tournament event for five more weeks.

Mister Bagman took Harry into a corner, Ron could make out a few words of what he was saying. First, he congratulated Harry on the Horntail fight again, then he complained about someone, and then he said that the Ministry was looking for someone, Harry made a confused face and asked why they were looking for him here. Then Ludo said that Percy was his assistant. Why is Mister Crouch missing? Ron pieced together.

Bagman leaned Harry closer and whispered even softer. Ron couldn’t make out a thing. But then Fred and George appeared and scared off Bagman.

Harry then told Ron and Hermione what Bagman had said Why do I even bother to eavesdrop? Ron jokingly said that maybe Percy was poisoning Crouch to take his job. Hermione gave him a disapproving look.

Before their conversation could get much farther, an unpleasantly familiar reporter entered the pub. She was talking a mile a minute about Ludo Bagman not wanting to talk to her and how she could ruin his career.

“Trying to ruin someone else’s life?” Harry said loudly.

“Harry!” The slimy reporter said, “How lovely! Why don’t you come and-”

“I wouldn’t come near you with a ten-foot broom,” Harry said furiously, “What did you do that to Hagrid for?”

Rita Skeeter raised her heavily penciled eyebrows. “Our readers have a right to the truth, Harry. I am merely doing my-”

“Who cares if he’s a half-giant?” Harry shouted, “There’s nothing wrong with him!”

The pub went silent. Skeeter’s smile faded for a moment, then returned just as quickly. She pulled a Quick-Quotes Quill out of her crocodile-skin handbag.

“Why don’t you tell me about the Hagrid you know? The man behind the muscle? Your unlikely friendship and its causes. Would you consider him a father substitute?”

Hermione stood up abruptly, clutching her butterbeer as though it were a grenade.

“You horrible woman!” She said through gritted teeth, “You don’t give a shit, do you? Anything for a story, anyone will do, won’t they? Even Ludo Bagman-”

“Down, you silly girl, and don’t talk about things you don’t understand,” Rita Skeeter said coldly, “I know things about Ludo Bagman that would make your hair curl, not that it needs it.”

“Let’s go,” Hermione said. “c’mon.”

The three of them left; many people were staring at them as they did so. Ron saw that Skeeter’s Quick-Quotes Quill was writing at a mile a minute.

“She’ll be after you next, Hermione,” Ron said in a low and worried voice. He was concerned for his friend.

“Let her try!” Hermione said defiantly, “I’ll show her! Silly little girl, am I? Oh, I’ll get her back for this. First Harry, then Hagrid.”

“You don’t want to go upsetting her,” Ron said, “I’m serious, she’ll find someone. Never argue with someone who buys ink by the barrel and paper by the ton.”

“My parents don’t read The Daily Prophet. She can’t scare me into hiding!” Hermione said, now walking so fast that Ron and Harry were struggling to keep up.

She marched straight to Hagrid’s door and banged on it, demanding to see him.

“Hagrid, that’s enough! We know you’re in there! Nobody cares if your mum was a giantess! You can’t let that horrible Skeeter woman do this to you! Hagrid, get out here, you’re just being-”

The door opened. Hermione started to say “About time”, but stopped when she realized that she was not, in fact, looking at Hagrid. Instead, she was met by Professor Dumbledore.

“Good afternoon,” he said pleasantly, smiling at the teens.

“We- er- wanted to see Hagrid,” Hermione said in a small voice.

“Yes, I figured as much,” Dumbledore said. “Why don’t you come in?”

They agreed, and Fang launched himself at Harry. Hagrid was sitting at his table, where there were two large mugs of tea. Hagrid was a complete mess. His face was blotchy, his eyes were swollen and red, and his hair was even more of a tangled bush than normal.

They greeted Hagrid, who hoarsely returned their hellos. Dumbledore got them all a cup of tea. There was a slight pause, and then Dumbledore said, “Did you by any chance hear what Miss Granger was shouting, Hagrid?”

Hermione went slightly pink, but Dumbledore smiled and continued, “Hermione, Harry, and Ron still seem to want to know you, judging by the way they were attempting to break down the door.”

“Of course, we still want to know you!” Harry and Ron said in unison.

“You don’t think anything that Skeeter bitch,” Ron said, “sorry professor,” Ron added quickly, looking at the wise old man.

“I have gone temporarily deaf and haven’t any idea what you said, Ron,” Dumbledore said, twiddling his thumbs.

“Er, right,” Ron said sheepishly.

“What he meant, Hagrid, is how could you think for a moment that we’d care what that… woman , wrote about you?” Harry said.

Two fat tears leaked out of Hagrid's obsidian-black eyes.

“Living proof of what I’ve been telling you,” Dumbledore said, “I have shown you the countless letters from parents who remember you from when they were students, telling me in no uncertain terms that if I sacked you they would have something to say about it.”

But Dumbledore’s words fell on deaf ears. Hagrid’s self-pity was not going to be vanquished so easily.

“I refuse to accept your resignation, I expect you back at work on Monday,” Dumbledore said as he stood up, “You will join the rest of the staff for breakfast at eight-thirty in the Great Hall. No excuses.”

Dumbledore left the cabin, after pausing to scratch Fang’s ear. When the door shut behind him, Hagrid burst into loud sobbing. The three of them consoled the half-giant. Eventually, they finally got him to stop crying. Hagrid immediately followed his crying by calming down and realizing what a fool he was being. Ron was glad that he had stopped crying. He then started saying that Harry reminded Hagrid of himself. Harry was a champion, and it cheered up Hagrid immensely when he remembered that fact. Finally, Hagrid had cheered up enough for Ron, Hermione, and Harry to go back to the castle. Ron was relieved that he was coming back.

Chapter Text

Lake Lacuna looked beautiful one early February morning. Luz was sitting at its banks with Eda and King at her flanks. The Golden Egg was still eluding her understanding, and the second task was coming up quickly.

“What if I don’t figure out the egg in time?” Luz asked her mentor.

“You will, don’t worry kid. You’re smart, you’ll get it eventually” She replied.

Luz opened it another time, praying that this time might be different. She was met with the same wailing noise that came from it every time she tried to open it. Luz closed it yet again, the noise was painful to her ears.

“Hey, kid!” Eda said loudly, “Maybe try leaving it open! Maybe the trick is just putting up with the noise until it tells you something useful!”

Luz thought that sounded stupid, but she was so out of ideas, she went with it. She opened the egg again, this time leaving it as such. The wailing just went on and on, remaining nothing more than an unintelligible shriek.

She put up with the pain for almost two minutes before she gave up. She felt like her ears were about to explode.

“Well, that didn’t work,” Eda said.

“I’ll say!” King interjected, “One more second of that, and I-”

“You aren’t breaking my egg, King. I need it.” Luz interrupted.

“Jeez! I was only going to say I would’ve thrown it in the lake!” King defended.

“How do you know it’s waterproof?” Luz asked. King had no response.

It seemed hopeless. Nothing they did made the egg understandable. Luz had listened for Morse code, she recorded it on her phone and reversed it, she had slowed down the recording, she had sped up the recording, she had done anything she could think of, but nothing worked.

Luz picked up the egg and started to walk back to the Owl House, but before she could get too far, a gust of wind blew, making the egg fly right out of her arm and into the lake!

“Oh come on!” Luz complained, “Now I have to go grab it!”

Luz dove into the lake, luckily it was one of the few non-boiling bodies of water in the Demon Realm. As soon as her head went under the surface, she heard what sounded like singing.

The egg had somehow opened when it landed on the lakebed (which luckily wasn’t very deep) Instead of the usual wailing, the egg was transmitting a beautiful melody.

“Come seek us where our voices sound,

We cannot sing above the ground,

And while you’re searching, ponder this:

We’ve taken what you’ll sorely miss,

An hour-long you’ll have to look,

And to recover what we took,

But past an hour; the prospect’s black,

Too late, it’s gone, it won't come back.”

Luz grabbed the egg and swam back to the surface. She gasped for breath as her head broke the surface.

“Eda!” Luz gasped, “Eda! The egg sang!” She swam to the surface as quickly as she could. She was drenched from head to toe and was very glad she had a change of clothes.

“It sang?” Eda said doubtfully, “Underwater? Are you sure you aren’t just hearing a Ness?”

“I’m sure, Eda. It was singing about having an hour to look for what I’ll sorely miss,” Luz said, “Or so I think, I only half caught it.”

“Well, let’s get you dried off, then maybe you can see if this works in the bathtub or something,” Eda said, drawing a spell circle with Owlbert.

The three of them all returned to the Owl House, Eda, and King rode on Owlbert, and Luz rode on Stringbean. Upon returning, they were met by the familiar house demon.

“Heeeyy!!” He said, “How are you? hoot, hoot,”

“Never better, Hooty!” Luz said enthusiastically, “I figured out the egg, for the most part anyway, and now I just need to get some details figured out!”

“Wanna hear how I’m doing?” He asked.

“No,” King, Eda, and Luz all said in unison.

Luz got inside and filled the bathtub with water. Once it was full, she listened to the song two, three, four more times. Eventually, she wrote it down so she couldn’t forget it. After doing that, she finally let King use it to, well, take a bath. Luz went downstairs to Eda.

“Hey Eda, could you help me make sure I’ve got this right?” Luz said.

“Yeah, sure kid, but make it quick, Mama Eda’s sleepy,” Eda replied.

“Aren’t you always?”

“Not the point.”

“Whatever, so the first two lines, ‘Come seek us where our voices sound, we cannot sing above the ground,’ I’m pretty sure that means I’m going to have to go underwater somewhere, do you agree?” Luz asked her mentor.

“Yeah, that makes sense,” the Owl Lady replied.

“Then the next two lines, ‘And while you’re searching, ponder this: we’ve taken what you’ll sorely miss,’ What do you think of that? Are they stealing something and I have to get it back?”

“Probably. Knowing merpeople, it won’t be a thing, but most likely it’ll be a person you’ll miss. Creatures of the sea love stealing people.” Eda told her.

“Well that’s great, so I might have to save Mamá, or you, or Amity, or-”

“I get it, move on,” Eda interrupted.

“well the rest of it is ‘An hour long you’ll have to look, and to recover what we took, but past an hour; the prospect’s black, too late, it’s gone, it won't come back.’ which seems pretty clear, I have a one-hour time limit.” Luz finalized.

“Yeah, but how do you plan on breathing for an hour underwater? I’m pretty sure humans can’t do that if your struggled breathing earlier was any indication.” Eda told her.

“I don’t know, but I still have three weeks, I can figure this out,” Luz said.

“True, but I’m not gonna let you put this off to the last minute.”
“Isn’t that what you’d do?” Luz told her.

“Hey!” Eda complained.

“You would though!”

Eda grabbed her staff and stood up. Luz, deciding she rather enjoyed having her head on her neck, stopped.

“That’s what I thought,” she said, “Now, I’m taking a nap, make sure King doesn’t drown himself in the bathtub.”

“Will do!” Luz said, going back upstairs as Eda lay down on the couch.

King was sitting in the tub, not drowning, but squeaking a rubber ducky.

“Rubber ducky!” He said, “Would you like to join my army of minions?”

He squeaked it, which was taken as a yes.

“Then it shall be so!” King bellowed, “We shall conquer the entire world! Mwahahaha-”

Luz bonked him on the skull.

“Weh?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be getting clean?” Luz said.

“Ugh, you’re sounding like Eda!” King complained.

“Maybe because Eda has a point!” Luz countered.

Luz almost had to sit there and bathe him herself with how much he didn’t want to do it. But he eventually got clean.

Harry didn’t know how long of a bath he would need to figure out the egg, so he decided to do it at night, when no one could bother him. Harry brought the egg with him, of course, but also his invisibility cloak and the Marauder’s Map, as they are Harry’s most essential tools in the art of rule-breaking.

He managed to make his way to the Prefect’s bathroom and muttered the password, “Pine Fresh” just as Cedric had said.

Harry’s first thought upon entering was that it would be worth it to become a Prefect just to be able to use this room. It was softly lit by a beautiful chandelier, and everything was made of white marble, including what looked like an empty swimming pool in the middle of the room. About a hundred faucets lined its perimeter, each with a different colored jewel in its handle. Long linen curtains hung at the windows; a large pile of white, fluffy towels sat in a corner; and there was a massive framed painting of a mermaid on the wall.

Harry grabbed one of the towels and set it and the rest of his things on the edge of the massive pool. As amazing as the room was, Harry had no idea how it was supposed to help him figure out the egg.

Harry very quickly discovered that the different faucets carried different sorts of bubble bath mixtures with water, though it was unlike any bubble bath Harry had ever seen. One tap had pink and blue bubbles the size of footballs; another poured ice-white foam so thick that Harry thought it probably could hold his weight; a third burst forth green bubbles shaped like music notes, which played a short melody when burst.

Harry amused himself with them for a while until the pool was full, which took little time considering its size. Harry pulled off his pajamas, slippers, and dressing gown, then slid into the water.

It was so deep that his feet barely touched the bottom, and he actually did a few laps around the pool before swimming back to his pile of stuff. Enjoyable as it was swimming through foamy water with clouds of any color Harry could imagine, no stroke of brilliance came to him.

Harry grabbed the egg and opened it. The familiar screech came forth from it and filled the bathroom, echoing off the marble walls, but it sounded just as incomprehensible as ever, if not more so due to the reverberation. Before he could get too far, a voice came from behind him, making Harry almost drop the egg.

“I’d try putting it in the water if I were you.”

Harry stood up and saw the ghost of a very glum-looking girl.

“Myrtle!” Harry said, “What are you doing here?”

“Well, you haven’t been to see me in ages ,” Myrtle said, “And you’re in desperate need of help. So go on, put it underwater!”

Harry did as she said, and put it under the water. It didn’t wail this time, instead, a gurgling sound that he still couldn’t understand was emitted.

“You need to put your head under too!”

Harry took a deep breath and went under. Now, sitting on the bottom of the bath, he heard a chorus of eerie voices coming from the egg. He then spent an embarrassingly long time trying to figure out what the song meant.

Finally, he thought he had it. Harry told Myrtle to cover her eyes, then he got out of the bath.

“Will you come and visit me in my bathroom again sometime?” Myrtle asked after Harry made himself decent.

“Er, I’ll try,” Harry said.

Harry put on the invisibility cloak and examined the Marauder’s Map as he exited the bathroom. Filch and his cat were in his office. Nothing else was moving except for Peeves, who was bouncing around upstairs. Harry was about halfway to Gryffindor Tower when something else caught his eye, There was a dot in Snape’s office, but it wasn’t “Severus Snape” it was “Bartemius Crouch”.

Harry stared at the dot, perplexed. Mr Crouch is supposed to be too sick to come to work, what is he doing sneaking around Hogwarts at one in the morning? Harry wondered.

Harry’s curiosity got the better of him. He turned and set off to the dungeon, he had to know what Crouch was doing. He took a narrow staircase to go down two floors, but when he was halfway down, his foot got caught on the trick step that Neville always forgot to jump. The golden egg, still damp from the bath, slipped out from under his arm and fell down the long staircase with a bang as loud as a cymbal crash on every single step. The invisibility cloak tried to come off as well, Harry snatched it, and the map fluttered down six steps.

The egg burst open upon landing at the bottom of the staircase, letting forth its all-too-familiar wail. Pulling the cloak back over himself, Harry tried to get the map to at least clear itself, but it was too far away. Before Harry could free himself from the step, a loud yell echoed through the castle.

“PEEVES!!!”

It was Filch’s unmistakable voice, and he was pissed.

“What’s this racket? Wake up the whole castle, will you?” Filch yelled as he walked to the egg in order to close it. Harry stood very still, one leg still very stuck in the trick stair. Filch stared up the stairs, expecting to see Peeves, but he was met with a dark and (seemingly) empty staircase.

“Hiding, are you?” he said softly, “I’ll get you, Peeves. You’ve stolen a Triwizard clue. Dumbledore will finally have you out for this you filthy poltergeist!”

“Filch? What is going on?” Snape’s cold, heartless voice said.

“It’s Peeves, sir,” Filch said maliciously, “He threw this egg down the stairs.”

“Peeves?” Snape said, “But Peeves couldn’t get into my office…”

“This egg was in your office?”

“Of course not,” Snape snapped, “I heard banging and wailing-”

“Yes, that was the egg.”

“I was coming to investigate”

“Peeves threw it”

“And when I passed my office, I saw that the torches were lit and a cupboard door was ajar! Somebody was searching it! But that couldn’t have been Peeves, I seal it with a spell only a wizard can break!” Snape said, “I want you to help me search for this intruder.”

“The thing is, professor,” Filch said, “The headmaster will have to listen to me this time. Peeves has been stealing from a student, it might be my chance to get him thrown out of here for good!”
“I don’t give a damn about that wretched poltergeist; it’s my office that’s-”

Snape stopped when he heard the clunking of Moody’s pegleg.

“Get back to bed, Snape” Moody growled at the potions professor.

“You don’t have the authority to send me anywhere!” Snape hissed, “I have as much right to prowl this school after dark as you do!”

“Then prowl away,” Moody said menacingly, “You dropped something, by the way.”

Harry saw Moody pointing at the Marauder’s Map. Snape turned around to look at it. Harry, hoping he was correct in his assumption that Moody could see through his cloak, waved his hands in the air, mouthing “It’s mine!”

“Accio parchment!”

The map flew into the air and soared into Moody’s hand.

“My mistake,” he said calmly, “It’s mine, I must have dropped it earlier.”

“I think I will go back to bed,” Snape said.

“Best idea you’ve had all night,” Moody replied, “Now, Filch, if you’ll just give me that egg.”

“No!” Filch cried, clutching the egg tightly, “This egg is evidence of Peeves’ treachery!”

“It’s property of the champion he stole it from,” Moody said, “Hand it over.”

Snape swept downstairs without another word. Filch begrudgingly handed Moody the egg, then sulked off to his office.

“Close shave, Potter,” Moody muttered after Filch and Snape left.  “What is this thing?”

“A map of Hogwarts,” Harry said, hoping Moody would pull him out of the staircase.

“Merlin’s beard,” Moody whispered, staring at the map. “This is some map, Potter!”

“Yeah, it’s quite useful,” Harry said, “Er, Professor Moody, d’you think you could help me?”

“What? Oh, Yes, of course.”

Moody took hold of Harry's arms and pulled; he was finally free of the trick step.

“Potter,” he said, “You didn’t happen to see who broke into Snape’s office, did you?”

“Er, yeah,” Harry admitted, “It was Mister Crouch.”

“Crouch? Are you sure, Potter?”

“Positive.”

“Can I ask you something else, Potter?” Moody said, Harry’s mind jumped to the conclusion of him asking where he had gotten the map, an answer that would incriminate himself, Fred, George, his father, and Professor Lupin.

“Can I borrow this?”

“Oh!” Harry said. He was very fond of his map, but on the other hand, Moody had saved him from a lot of trouble. “Yeah, okay.”

“Potter? Have you ever thought about a career as an Auror?” Moody asked.

“No,” Harry admitted. He had never really thought about what he planned on doing after Hogwarts, he was typically too busy trying to survive to the end of the term to focus on his future.

“Might want to consider it,” Moody said.

Harry couldn’t believe it! Moody thought he, Harry Potter, ought to be an Auror! But maybe Harry should check to see how scarred the rest of the Aurors were before he made a decision.

Chapter Text

On February fourteenth, Luz decided to do something nice for Amity. But first she had to figure out where dinner would be.

Where should I take her on a date? Luz kept wondering all morning. Eventually, she asked Eda where she could take Amity for a nice romantic evening.

“Well, I suppose there’s Bone Appetit, they’re really fancy, but also about as expensive as it can be. I don’t have nearly enough snails for it, so you’d better hope Blight foots the bill.” Eda answered.

“Do I need a reservation to go there?” Luz asked.

“How would I know?” Eda said, “I’ve never even bothered to steal from there, much less be a” she shuddered, “paying customer,”

Luz, wanting to make sure the place would work, decided to grab Stringbean and check for herself.

Entering the restaurant, Luz could tell it was definitely not in her price range. The floors were made of what looked like marble, ornate chandeliers hung over every table, and the waitstaff (most of whom were standing idly) were all clad in elegant clothes that Luz felt probably made Amity’s clothes budget seem small. Despite the luxurious atmosphere, there were maybe four patrons and thirty tables. 

“Hi,” Luz said to the maître d’hôtel, who was looking at his scroll, “I want to have dinner with my girlfriend here tonight, do I need to make a reservation?”

The demon looked at her as if he was trying to figure out if she was joking.

“Kid, look around this place. Do you think you need a reservation?” the demon said in a deep voice, “We usually only get about twenty customers in a day. I keep telling the boss we need to lower prices to get more business, but he’s insistent that lowering the price would make us less money.”

“Okay, thank you!” Luz said, “I’ll be back tonight!”

“Whatever.” The demon replied as he looked at his scroll from behind the podium.

Luz exited the restaurant feeling elated at the idea of a romantic dinner with Amity. But first, Luz wanted to do something else for her girlfriend. 

Quickly returning to the Owl House, Luz grabbed her sketchbook and the wrapped present Luz had made over the course of the previous weekend, then exited almost as quickly.

“Woah, kid, where are you going in such a hurry?” Eda pestered as Luz walked out the door. “And what about that Bone Appetit place? Are you set for dinner there tonight? I know how much Valentine’s Day means to you Humans, so I want to ensure it’s all good!”

“It’s all fine, Eda! I’m going to Amity’s, and dinner is taken care of, so our date will be great!” Luz exclaimed.

Eda mumbled something about Raine under her breath.

“What was that, Eda?” Luz bugged.

“Nothing!” She blurted.

“She said she’s taking Raine on a date tonight!” King interjected.

“I did not!” She defended.

“Yes, you did!” He taunted.

Eda got up and started to nab the young Titan, who responded by getting on all fours and running around the couch. 

“Oh, get back here you!” Eda cried. Luz took the opportunity to escape while Eda was distracted.

The Boiling Isles were beautiful. The red trees glimmered in the sunlight just perfectly.

Showing up at Blight Manor, Luz got off Stringbean and tried to make herself as presentable as possible. She clutched her sketchbook and present in one hand and used Stringbean to make a bouquet of red roses in the other.

Great, now how do I ring the doorbell? Luz wondered as she stepped up to the front door. Luckily, she wouldn’t have to figure out an answer to that question, as the twins opened the door at just the right moment.

“Oh, hey Beanie!” Emira said, “You here to see Mittens? She’s in the workshop with Dad.” 

“We were just on our way out,” Ed added pleasantly, “Have fun on your date you two!”

Luz and the twins swapped sides of the door, and they closed it behind themselves. Luz made her way through the familiar mansion to the workshop.

The workshop door was open, inside Amity and Alador were standing side-by-side, working on an abomination creation that Luz couldn’t identify. Neither Blight heard her walk in, they were too focused on the task at hand. Luz knocked lightly on the door to get their attention without startling them, they looked up at her.

“Hi, Amity! Hi Alador!” Luz beamed, “Do you know what today is?” She handed Amity the bouquet she grew.

“Thank you!” Amity took the flowers, “Uhh, it’s Scabuary 32nd?” Amity stated, confused, “Oh! It’s February fourteenth! That’s Valentine's Day! Right?”

“Yup, but there’s something else about today that makes it extra special!” Luz told her.

Amity paused for a moment, trying to figure out what Luz meant. “Oh! It’s been a year and a half, hasn’t it?” She finally concluded.

“Yup!” Luz proclaimed, “Eighteen Human Realm months, on the dot! Or thirteen and a half Demon Realm months! But who’s counting?”

“You are,” Amity giggled, “So I’m guessing you have a date planned.”

“Oh, Amity! Of course, I do!” Luz exclaimed.

“Oh, yeah, I hope you’re okay with that, Alador,” Luz said, realizing she was kinda stealing Amity from father/daughter time.

“Luz, you’re fine,” The brown-haired witch told her, “The two of us have been working all morning, and we both probably need a break anyway.”

He sighed and led them out into the living room. The door closed behind them.

“Honestly, Amity is better with Abominations at sixteen than I was at twenty-six, I might have more experience under my belt, but she is seriously talented.” Alador confided, “I’m so proud to have Amity as a daughter, and you are a huge part of why she’s grown into who she is now.”

“Dad!” Amity blushed, seeming embarrassed.

“Well, I’ll leave you two love-griffins alone.” Alador huffed, walking towards the stairs.

Luz grabbed the present she had wrapped and handed it to Amity. She unwrapped it to find two matching necklaces. They were gold-colored pendants with four symbols Luz knew she would recognize.

“Oh, Luz!” She cried, pulling Luz into a hug, “They’re beautiful! And are those the four glyphs?”

“Yeah!” Luz told her, “Since the glyphs don’t work anymore after we defeated Belos, I figured, why not use them for decoration?”

“It looks great! Did you make this yourself?” Amity asked.

“Yeah, it took forever though,” Luz admitted. “This was originally going to be a Christmas present.”

Amity chuckled, “Yeah, it’s like that sometimes.”

The sweet potato put her new necklace on, Luz took the other necklace and equipped it as well. Then Amity looked at the sketchbook.

“Why did you bring that?” She inquired.

“I’m getting there,” Luz admitted, “I drew some things, and I hope you like them!”

Luz opened the sketchbook to show Amity what she had been working on instead of figuring out how to breathe underwater. She really hoped Amity didn’t realize that this was her form of procrastinating, but she also felt that Amity probably would. There were ten whole days left! She was fine!

On each page was an intricate colored pencil drawing of a major moment in Luz’s life since arriving in the Boiling Isles almost twenty months prior. (wow, had it really been that long?) First was a drawing of Eda showing the exterior of The Owl House to Luz on her first day.

Then she showed more pictures; Luz covering herself in abomination slime and sneaking into Hexside, Luz discovering the light glyph, her duel with Amity at the Covention, her discovery of the ice glyph on the knee, her admittance into every track at Hexside, her dance with Amity at Grom, Amity and Luz becoming girlfriends, her failed portal door, her moment with Amity after the Bonesborough Brawl, her findings of what Belos truly had planned, the discovery of King’s true identity, the Day of Unity, the Collector’s freedom, Luz coming out to Camilla, one of their failed return portals, the Titan himself, and lastly, an unfinished picture of what Eda, King, and Raine said she looked like taking out Belos. All of them were intricate drawings that had taken her hours each. Amity was speechless.

“How, what, I- uhh.” Amity blabbered.

“Sorry the last one is unfinished, Eda insisted I go to bed last night rather than stay up and finish it.” Luz confided.

“Luz, these are incredible! You don’t need to apologize for anything! These are the most beautiful drawings I’ve ever seen!” Amity exclaimed. “And Eda had a point, your sleep is more important than finishing this now. Hey, any chance you could tell me more about each one of these?”

“Well, this first drawing is of Eda showing me The Owl House for the first time, I had just shown up in the Demon Realm about, like, ten minutes prior I think…” Luz kept talking about each drawing, some explanations were short, like for Grom, but others, like her drawing of the Titan, took much more explaining.

Hours later, her phone’s alarm went off.

“Oh my gosh! I lost all track of time! I made plans for us to go to Bone Appetit together!” Luz panicked.

“You mean the restaurant downtown?” Amity asked. Luz nodded.

“Well, let’s get down there!” Amity stated.

The two of them made their way downtown. Amity was on Ghost, and Luz was on Stringbean.

Arriving at the restaurant, Luz led them in.

“Oh, you’re back,” The demon from earlier said to her, not even looking up from his scroll, “Well, take a seat.”

Amity and Luz took a seat near the back of the establishment, only two other couples were inside, and there were four waitstaff. One waiter came over to the young couple and handed them menus, asking what they would like to drink.

“I’ll take a soft apple blood, please,” Luz said.

“And I’ll have chai teeth, please, and thank you,” Amity said. The waiter wrote this down and departed, soon returning with their drinks.

Luz thought the apple blood tasted good, and Amity seemed to enjoy her chai teeth. They looked at the menu, and Luz was almost overwhelmed by how many items were before her. Lists of seefood, assorted Griffin meats, Giraffe necks, Phoenix meat, dragon wings, Hydra heads, and so many more that Luz couldn’t choose. Amity, however, seemed rather at peace with the quantity of choices.

After far too short of a time, the waiter returned to take their orders.

“I’ll take a Griffin wing, please,” Amity said, Luz parroted her request, at a loss for what to get.

Shortly after, two massive pieces of meat were taken out and placed before the teenage lovers, they looked like chicken wings, but about twenty times bigger. Luz did her best to mind her manners at such a nice locale, but she still struggled, there were too many rules to remember, despite Amity’s gentle guidance.

The griffin wings were gone before Luz knew it, and the lovebirds were sitting across each other, staring into the other’s eyes. Amity’s golden eyes glimmered in the candlelight like they were twenty-four karat.

The moment could have gone on for hours, but eventually, the waiter brought them the bill.

“Luz, I’ll pay. A lot of the snails we have came from Odalia, so I don’t feel bad spending any of it,” Amity said, footing the bill.

Exiting the restaurant, Luz took Amity’s hand and walked down to the beach. The sunset was beautiful on the boiling sea. But it was only the second most beautiful thing, after one cotton-candy-haired Goddess, of course.

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” Luz whispered in her girlfriend’s ear as she embraced her in a hug, the sun dipping below the horizon. “Te amo,”

Fred had a great idea planned for the four trouble-making twins. Fred and George had just made a large batch of Canary Cream, and they were ready to be used on all the lovebirds in Hogsmeade.

Edric and Emira met them in front of the Entrance hall, and they walked into town together. His green hair flowed in the wind like grass in a meadow. 

George told a joke about the Boiling Isles must be quiet, if their ears were so pointy. Edric’s laugh was like a symphony of perfection and his smile was like a painting worthy of the Louvre. The four of them entered Hogsmeade around noon, and they had to explain the plan to the Blights.

“So, we’re going to sneak this Canary Cream into everyone’s food and drinks,” Fred explained, “It’ll be great! All those lovebirds will be like real birds!”

Edric loved it immediately, but Emira seemed hesitant.

“Are you sure about this?” She asked.

“Don’t worry Em,” George said, “They’ll turn back in less than an hour.”

“Just some harmless fun!” Fred added. This seemed to ease the witch.

“So where do we come in?” Edric asked.

“I was just getting there,” Fred told them, “You two are master illusionists, and we can’t be seen while we do this,”

“Okay,” Ed barely followed, his confusion like a painting of Picasso.

“We need you two to make us invisible,” George explained bluntly.

“Ooh, okay!” Ed exclaimed, his face lighting up like a lightbulb.

The four made their way to Madam Puddlefoot’s, and the Blights made them invisible. Fred took out the canary cream and started magically putting it in everyone’s tea.

Within moments, people across the tea shop quickly started to sprout feathers, Fred and George both couldn’t help but laugh. Somehow, the illusion didn’t hold as soon as they started to howl with laughter.

The room was filled with a lot of lovebirds all right, a lot of lovebirds that were very angry at the twins for turning them into birds and ruining their dates.

Fred and George ran out of there as fast as they could. Several witches and wizards were hot on their tails.

“So, now what?” Ed asked.

“Well, let’s run for now, then we’ll figure it out,” Fred added.

They made their way to the walls surrounding the Hogwarts grounds, but they had been cornered by their feathery foes.

“You thinking what I’m thinking bro?” George said. Fred nodded at his twin.

“Accio broomstick!” Fred and George both said at the same time. The Blight twins took the hint and got on their palisman staves.

The four of them took off and flew over the wall and into the grounds.
Fred cheered as they flew through the air. The breeze flowed through his hair, and he led the way back to the Entrance Hall, where their next trick was planned.

Fred and George got off of their brooms, Ed and Em followed suit. Ed’s bear and Em’s dog soon returned to their animate forms.

“So, now what?” Emira asked.

“Now, we turn all of these Valentine’s Day things into doves,” George said with a mischievous smile.

“Great idea!” Ed said. He soon started to show off just how hard he had worked at transfiguration. He was turning the Valentines into doves like it was nothing. Fred was impressed, this was rather advanced transfiguration, and they had it perfect. They would be really helpful with making the joke shop a reality, maybe they would even have to change their name, maybe to "Weasley's Blight" or something.

Fred and George didn’t want the Blights to get all of the fun, so they went and turned as many as they could into beautiful doves. It soon became a competition. Fred counted to fifty, seventy, one hundred, one-hundred-fifty different things turned to doves.

An hour later, they all met back up to see who had gotten the most. It was close, Emira had one-hundred-fifty-four, Edric had one-hundred-fifty-six, George had one-hundred-sixty-six, and Fred won with one-hundred-seventy-four things turned into doves.

“Good job, you two,” Fred cheered, “Even though you lost, we have years of experience on you when it comes to transfiguration, so it being this close is insane on how good you two are at this!”

“Thanks,” Ed blushed.

“Now, let’s scram before Filch catches us,” George said.

“Good idea,” Fred replied, “See you around, Blight” He winked at Edric.

The two sets of twins both departed before the caretaker could notice their misdeeds.

Fred and George both entered the common room and sighed.

“Ah, that was some good old-fashioned mischief,” Fred said, “We should do that more often.”

George laughed in agreement.

“Yeah, we should just do more tom-foolery,”

“Get up to more hijinks,”

“Maybe even some shenanigans now and again.”

The twins sighed and went upstairs to their dormitory, where they had been working on some new inventions based on what they had taken from the Blights when they went to the Boiling Isles.

“This goop should make great everlasting chewing gum!” Fred said, trying something new with some Abomination slime

“Is it edible though?” George asked.

“Well, let’s find out!” Fred replied, popping some in his mouth. It tasted terrible, but its texture was perfect for chewing gum. No matter how long he chewed, the goop kept the same consistency, and the (terrible) flavour never went away.

“I think it’s perfect!” Fred exclaimed as he took the disgusting thing out of his mouth, “We just need to find some way to make it taste good.”

The two of them tried countless things to change the flavour of it, what eventually worked was adding some pixie dust they had lying around and mixing them together with magic.

Chapter Text

It was the morning of the twenty-third, and Luz hoped that Mamá would finally show up today. She had promised to be there for the second and third tasks. Luz went to the Human Realm as quickly as her legs would carry her. She hadn’t seen her Mamá since October, and as much as she didn’t want to admit it, Luz missed her.

Luz sat at the Hogsmeade Station for hours waiting for the train to arrive. It finally did at a bit after ten o’clock. A dozen or so people got off the train. Among them were a woman and girl with the same silvery hair as Fleur who were jabbering away to each other in rapid French, a man that had the same hooked nose as Viktor who came off just behind the French ladies, and behind him was the one person Luz had been waiting for.

“Mamá!” Luz cried out, seeing her mother.

“Mija!” She replied, “Oh, it’s so good to see you!”

The two embraced each other in a hug, glad to see each other for the first time in four months. The other people who arrived all started to make their way to Hogsmeade, where Luz assumed they had rooms booked at the Hog’s Head.

“So you’re the champion!” Camila cheered, “Congratulations!”

“Thanks, Mamá,” Luz replied. The two of them started to walk together towards the portal door.

Luz started to tell Camilla all about the school year so far, how she technically was too young to compete (but that didn’t stop her), and how Harry was even younger than her and still had to compete. Luz eventually got to the fight with the Vipertooth, which made Camilla immediately worry, both about her daughter, and the poor things the champions had to fight.

“Oh, Mija, are you alright?” Camilla consoled, “Because I will KILL whoever hurt you!”

“I’m fine Mamá, the Healing witches plus the Hogwarts nurse had me back in peak condition in a week!” Luz explained, “The dragon hurt me, but to be fair, I had kinda pissed it off by blinding it with light a few too many times,”

Camilla’s brows furrowed.

“Luz, that doesn’t make it any better!” Camilla tried to explain, “This school made you fight a dragon by yourself!”

“Oh, come on Mamá!” Luz defended, “It was barely tougher than Grom! And I’ve beaten that thing before!”

“Si, but you had help then!” Camilla argued, “You had Amity right there!”

“But I was a newbie at magic then!” Luz almost shouted, “I’ve been doing magic for over a year and a half now!”

Camilla sighed, realizing this argument wasn’t getting anywhere. She put her hand on her forehead and muttered under her breath, “I thought my school was insane, but at least mine didn’t make me fight a dragon,”

Luz, despite catching what her Mamá had said, decided to not prod, figuring that it just wasn’t worth it right now.

“What about after the first task?” The older woman asked.

“Well, after the first task, nothing really of note happened until Christmas. Hogwarts held a ball for everyone.”

“Let me guess, you went with Amity,”

“What was your first clue?” Luz asked sarcastically.

Camilla chuckled at her daughter’s humor.

“Then there hasn’t been much since Christmas,” Luz explained, “All I’ve done is try to figure out the clue for the second task,”

“Which is?”

“I think I’m gonna have to go into the lake there,” Luz explained, pointing to the Black Lake, which they were walking just next to, “And save someone from Merpeople at the bottom, all in an hour.”

“Luz, this tournament sounds like a death trap,” Camilla said, “I want you out of this nonsense!”

“I can’t Mamá,” Luz replied, “There’s a magical contract forcing me to compete since my name came out of the Goblet of Fire. If that contract wouldn’t have been there, there would only be three champions, not five. They would’ve definitely kicked Harry and me out for being underage.”

Camilla sighed again as they approached the Quidditch Stadium, where the portal door stood wide open. She muttered something about Jesu under her breath.

The two humans entered the portal door, and Eda and King quickly greeted Luz’s guest.

“Hey, Camilla!” Eda beamed, “How’s my favorite Human Beast Keeper doing?”

“For the last time Eda,” Camilla sighed, “I’m not a ‘Beast Keeper’, I’m a veterinarian.”

“Eh, same thing!” Eda argued, “Now, would you like some Apple Blood? Or maybe some of that Butterbeer stuff that I got from the human realm.”

“I’ll have some Butterbeer,” Camilla said with surprising certainty. How does Camilla know what Butterbeer is? Luz wondered.

Eda got a butterbeer for Camilla, and the two humans sat on her couch. King quickly lay down on Luz’s lap.

Amity soon walked downstairs.

“Oh, there you are batata,” Amity said, then she noticed Camilla, “Hi, Mrs. Noce- sorry, Camilla,”

“Good morning, Amity,” Luz’s mother responded.

“I’ll,” Amity started, “I’ll go tell the others you’re here,” She then departed.

“Well, anyway,” Eda said, “How’s Gravesfield? I haven’t been there ever since Bumpikins made me put the portal door over here,”

“Gravesfield is the same it’s always been,” Camilla replied.

The two motherly figures in Luz’s life soon got to talking about nonsense that didn’t really interest Luz, so she focused on petting King, who seemed to enjoy it immensely.

Soon, Amity returned to the Owl House. With her were several people: Gus, Willow, Hunter, Ed, Em, Vee, and their newer friends Harry, Hermione, Ron, Fred, and George. Everyone squeezed into Eda’s living room, much to Hooty’s dismay.

“Hey” the demon screeched, “I need room to breathe you know!”

No one gave him mind as they all got themselves in.

“Mamá,” Luz decided to introduce, “You already know Amity, Gus, Willow, Hunter, and Vee. But these two are Amity’s older siblings, Edric and Emira,” The twins waved, “And these are my new friends: Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, then Ron, Fred, and George Weasley,”

“Potter?” Her mamá asked, “Is there any relation to-”

“Yeah,” Harry cut her off, “I’m that Harry Potter, the boy who lived,” He seemed to want to get that over with, and like it was more of a formality than anything.

“That’s not what I was going to ask,” Camilla told him, “I was going to ask if there’s any relation between you and James Potter, you look a lot like him, and we were penpals in school,”

“Yeah, he’s, my dad,” Harry admitted, “He died when I was a baby though,”

“Yes, I heard,” Camilla admitted, “I was so sad to hear of that, but at least it ended the war,”

“Wait, mamá,” Luz inquired, “How do you know about the wizarding war? And how were you penpals with Harry’s dad?”

Camilla sighed heavily.

“I guess the cat’s out of the bag,” She confessed, “Luz, I want you to understand that I hid this from you for your own protection. I was going to tell you when you developed your own innate magic, but that never happened,”

“Mamá, what are you talking about,”

“Luz, I’m a witch,” Camilla said.

“WHAT?!” Luz screamed, “Why would you hide that from me?!!”

“I did it to protect you and Manny!” she defended.

“How were you protecting us?” Luz cried. “You could have saved his life from that cancer!” 

“What makes you think I would stand by while he died!” Camilla bellowed, tears starting to form, “I did everything I could to save his life! I did magic! But I wasn’t strong enough, and there isn’t a magic hospital in the world willing to take no-maji!”

Luz knew she should calm down, but she was too angry at her mother for hiding this her entire life to care.

“Why would you hide it from me?” Luz begged, “Instead of telling me you were a witch, you told me I needed to go to summer camp for three months, and then I only discovered magic was real by going to another WORLD!”

“Mija, I hid it from you because I didn’t want you to feel left out.” Camilla defended, calming herself down, “You never showed any signs of innate magic, so I never decided to reveal it to you. It would have broken your heart to learn that I was a witch but you still couldn’t do magic.”

Luz took a deep breath, she was definitely overreacting.

“Did Papi know?” Luz asked softly.

“No, he never learned of my magic. I hid it from you both. It broke my heart but I had to!” Camilla replied.

Luz sighed, and Camilla did as well. The rest of the room seemed viscerally uncomfortable.

“I-I’m sorry for blowing up at you,” Luz breathed, “I just- that’s a lot to take in and I never expected it and-”

Camilla cut her off by embracing her in a hug.

“Mija, I’m not angry with you,” She whispered in her daughter’s ear, “I forgive you. And I understand your anger. This was a big thing and I should not have kept it from you. I’m sorry mija, I thought I was doing the right thing.”

Luz returned the hug and smiled slightly as a tear filled her eye. The two of them embraced each other for almost a full minute before Camilla finally pulled Luz free, her heart rate had gone back down, and her breathing had softened once more.

The rest of the room stood somewhat awkwardly around the two Latinas. Amity was right at Luz’s side, ready to comfort her if needed.

The silence was eventually broken by Hooty (of course).

“While we’re all revealing secrets, I guess you guys should know that I used to be attached to the Titan while he was still alive! Hoot hoot!” The infernal house demon chirped at the crowd.

“Shut up!!” Everyone yelled at him in unison.

“You said you knew my dad?” Harry asked, recognizing that the moment had already been ruined, so he could now pester Luz’s mamá with questions. “Everyone I’ve met has told me something different about him. My aunt and uncle say he was nothing but a criminal, Professor Snape says he was a scoundrel and an asshole, and my Godfather says that he was a great man and that he would be proud of who I’m growing up to be. So what do you say he was like?”

“James?” Camilla said, “I haven’t really given him much thought in years, but from what I remember he was a very talented wizard who always had a knack for getting into all sorts of trouble.”

“Sounds like my siblings,” Amity and Ron said in unison.

“He was also a bit of a jerk at times, from what I remember.” Camilla confessed, “But he had a good heart, and he never started a rivalry, but he always made sure to keep his enemies close. My guess is one of those rivalries was with your professor.”

Camilla went on and on explaining her unfiltered opinions on James Potter. They were mostly positive, but she wasn’t afraid to criticize his flaws when they appeared. Harry seemed relieved to hear another person say his father wasn’t a complete menace to society.

“Well, her being a witch certainly explains a lot,” Hermione muttered to Luz.

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, muggles aren’t able to even locate the castle, much less get on the property. And didn’t you say she came on the train? Only wizards and witches can access the platform it runs on.” Hermione explained with a sigh, “But her being a witch makes everything line up perfectly.”

“I just wish she told me, after all we’ve been through, you would think we would have stopped keeping secrets from each other,” Luz murmured back.

“Mamá,” Luz started, “If you’re a witch, then why did you seem to doubt me when I said that I was trapped in the Boiling Isles?”

“Luz, I doubted you mostly because I didn’t want to believe that instead of having my daughter living with me, I instead had some creature from another dimension,” her mamá explained, “I wanted it to be a joke, some kind of prank. I’m sorry for doubting you mija,”

Luz nodded, then replied, “Did you go all the way to Hogwarts for magic school? Or did you really go to that private boarding school in Massachusetts?”

“I went to Ilvermorny, which is the largest Wizarding school in North America,” Camilla confessed, “after I graduated, I decided that I still wanted to live in the no-maj world, despite my arcane abilities. That’s why I went to veterinary school. I wanted to be like my parents and go into medicine. Then I met your papa, and then I had you. And you know the rest.”

“Is the story you two told me about how you met at least true?”

Camilla nodded, “Every word of it,”

“Thank you, mamá.” Luz said, “I wish you had been honest with me from the start, but I get where you were coming from.”

"There's that word again," Ron said, "No-maj, what does it mean?"

"Oh," Camilla chuckled, "It's short for no magic, do you call them something different in Britain?"

"Yeah, we call 'em Muggles," Ron said.

"Well, the more you know," Camilla chuckled.

Camilla slapped her thighs, then stood, “Well, I’ll let you two champions go, I’m sure you both want to get plenty of sleep tonight and maybe get some last-minute prep in before the big day tomorrow!”

That reminded Luz, how was she going to breathe underwater?

“Thank you, Mrs. Noceda,” Harry said.

“Please, call me Camilla, and you’re welcome!”

The Hogwarts students all started to file out to the portal door.

“Good luck tomorrow, Harry!” Luz called to her fellow champion.

“Err, yeah, you too!” Harry replied.

But now Luz had another problem to face, the anticipation of Mamá’s arrival had made her completely forget that the second task was tomorrow, and she still didn’t have a plan!

Chapter Text

“Crap” Luz muttered after her Mamá went upstairs, sounding closer to annoyed than anything. “That’s just perfect. ”

“What’s wrong, Luz?” Amity asked softly. 

“You don’t have to say if you don’t want to!” the sweet potato quickly added.

Luz sighed and took a deep breath. “The second task, that’s what’s wrong,”

“I thought you figured out the egg,” Willow said.

“I did,” Luz said, “But it involves going underwater for an hour to ‘recover what they took’ and I’m useless! I’m going to drown tomorrow! How could I possibly be underwater for that long and not die?” Her breathing started to intensify, her heartbeat quickening.

Amity stopped that spiral before it even started, “No!” She shouted, “We’re going to get you a way to be underwater for an hour-”

“And survive,” Hunter added quickly, cutting off Amity.

Amity nodded, “And survive; even if it takes us until morning.”

“Thanks guys, I really appreciate what you’re trying to do,” Luz said, “but I’m supposed to do this by myself.”

“You weren’t supposed to know about the dragons, but that didn’t stop you,” Vee reminded.

Good point.

Amity, Gus, Willow, Hunter, the twins, and Vee all started to check every book Eda had in the living room. Why does Eda have so many books? She kept wondering.

“Ooh!” Gus said after a somewhat short search.

“Did you find something?” Willow asked.

“I think so!” The master illusionist exclaimed. Everyone crowded around the book he had ( Rare Potions for Rare Problems by Albertus Magnus) and read the page he had found.

“Potion of Aquatic Respiration,” Vee read, “This simple potion takes only around four hours to brew. The ingredients, however, are very hard to come by.

Said ingredients are as follows: Gillyweed: thirty grams, Selkiegris: twenty grams, Mugwump blood: thirty milliliters, Makara tears: twenty milliliters, Hippokampos hair: one lock, Water from a Kelpie: fifty milliliters. 

Simmer in one liter of water under moonlight until fully combined, this step should take two hours. Then, let it sit (still in moonlight) on low heat for two hours. It will turn blue when completed. Makes enough to last two hours” she finished.

“What the heck is Gillyweed?” Willow asked.

“I think I’ve heard of that!” Amity said, “I think it was in this one book I have, let me go check!” She ran off, got onto Ghost, and flew in the direction of Bonesborough.

“Well, while she’s gone,” Edric started. 

“We should split up and try to get the rest of these ingredients.” Emira finished.

“Good idea,” Hunter said.

“I’ll get the Mugwump blood, those shouldn’t be too hard to find.” Gus said, “Hunter, do you think you could get the Selkiegris?”

“Uhh, sure,” Hunter said awkwardly Luz was the only one here who remembered his previous encounter with a Selkiedomus.

“And maybe Willow can get the Hippokampos’ hair,” Gus continued, “And Vee could get the Kelpie water, a shapeshifter would probably do best with them. And that leaves you two to get the Makara tears.”

“That works for us” The twins replied.

“You guys are the best,” Luz said, “I don’t know what I’d do without you,”

“Drown,” Edric said bluntly.

Luz sighed, then got up. “I guess that leaves me to get the gillyweed with Amity,”

“Yup,”

Yay, I’m with Amity! Luz thought. Her peers soon started to leave in about every direction. Amity soon returned to the now-empty Owl House.

“Where did everyone go?” She asked.

“They left to get the other ingredients,” Luz replied, “Did you figure out what Gillyweed is?”

“Yeah, I knew I saw it somewhere,” The sweet potato pulled out the large, old, black book that Luz had seen before.

“Oh, is this the book you had in the library you got from Hogwarts?” She inquired.

“Yup,” She replied, carefully opening the ancient tome to the correct page. “Surprised they didn’t tell me a due date or anything, do you not have to return library books in the human realm?”

“You normally do, this must be a Hogwarts thing,” Luz recalled. Amity opened the book to the first of many pages on Gillyweed.

“Wow, you weren’t kidding when you said it was wordy!” Luz said, amazed at the sheer quantity of words the author had mustered on such a simple-seeming plant.

“So if I read all of this correctly, it’s native to the Mediterranean Sea, which is in the Human Realm I take it?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty much straight south of Hogwarts, the only problem is that it’s south by like, a thousand miles,” Luz said.

“Oof, I’m not planning on flying that far,” Amity said.

“Neither am I,” Luz replied, “So we have to find another way to get Gillyweed, and quickly,”

“We could try asking around at Hogwarts,” Amity suggested. “Maybe someone there knows where to get some,”

“Good idea. But we should get going if we want this potion ready in time” Luz reminded. The two girls soon departed through the portal door.

Upon reaching the other side, Luz and Amity split up. Amity went to check the Great Hall, and Luz went to check the library. After all, if they split up, they could find someone who knew something about Gillyweed more quickly.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were trying to brainstorm ideas on how to survive underwater for an hour on the twenty-fourth.

“You could try using the summoning charm again,” Ron suggested, “Get yourself one of those muggle Scuda-” 

“S.C.U.B.A., self-contained underwater breathing apparatus,” Hermione interjected

“Whatever, one of those things” Ron finished, glaring at Hermione.

“That would never work,” Hermione nagged, “Even if Harry managed to summon one all the way from wherever the nearest one is, he would be disqualified anyway!”

“How come?” Ron rebutted.

Hermione sighed, “For breaking the International Code of Wizarding Secrecy, obviously. Don’t you two know anything?”

“Of course, ideally, you would transfigure yourself into a submarine or something,” She said, “If only we did Human Transfiguration, but I don’t think we start that until sixth year, and it can go terribly if you don’t know what you’re doing.”

“Yeah, I don’t think I’d fancy having a periscope sticking out of my head,” Harry said.

“Exactly, so I think our best bet is to find some sort of charm.”

So Harry, already feeling that he had spent enough time in the library to last a lifetime, buried himself once more among the ancient tomes of the Hogwarts Library, trying to find some spell that would enable a human to survive for an hour without oxygen. However, even though all three of them spent all of their lunchtimes, evenings, and weekends in the library, they found nothing whatsoever that would allow Harry to spend an hour underwater and live to tell the tale.

Just as it had done before his fight with the Horntail, time started to slip far too quickly. There was a week to go before February twenty-fourth, which soon became five days, which just as quickly became three days.

By the evening before the second task, Harry felt like he was trapped in a nightmare. He was fully aware that even if he somehow managed to find a suitable spell, he would never be able to master it in time.

“I don’t think it can be done,” Ron flatly stated. “There’s nothing. Nothing! The closest we’ve found is that drought charm, but that’s nowhere near powerful enough to drain the whole lake.”

“Well, there must be something,” Hermione replied, still clinging to some shred of hope. “They never would’ve set a task that was impossible,”

“You guys having trouble too?” A distinctly American voice asked.

“Oh, Luz!” Harry almost jumped out of his chair. “Didn’t see you there,”

“It’s okay,” She reassured, “Hey, do any of you know where I could get myself some gillyweed? I’m making a potion for the task, and it calls for that.”

“Gillyweed!” Hermione shouted, “Of course! Why didn’t we think of that? We were too focused on a spell, we never stopped to think about using a plant or potion!”

The four of them wanted to immediately go find some, but Madam Pince hissed at them, “Don’t just leave all of these books out! You need to put them back where they came from!”

Harry, Ron, and Hermione soon started to clean up the massive pile of books they had accumulated. Harry was amazed at just how many there were. After doing that, Madam Pince finally allowed them to leave.

“Well, since it’s a plant, it might be stored in one of the greenhouses,” Hermione said.

“She said it was for a potion, so I think Snape would probably have some in his potions storage,” Ron added.

They quickly went to the Gryffindor common room, Luz had to wait outside, only Gryffindor students were allowed in. Harry grabbed his cloak and map, and the Hogwarts trio quickly stepped back out to rejoin Luz.

“Can’t you just go invisible with a spell?” Luz asked.

“Wait, is that how you go invisible?” Harry inquired, “I thought you had a cloak like this too, and I just knocked it off of you back in November on accident.”

“No, it’s a spell, but it only works so long as I hold my breath,” Luz explained.

“That’s inconvenient.”

“I’ll say”

On their way to the dungeon, Harry checked the map for where Snape was.

“You have a map of the whole school, and it shows you where everyone is?” She noted, “That is so cool!”

“Err, thanks,” He said, “My dad and his friends made it when they went here.”

A small dot labeled ‘Severus Snape’ was inside the potion storage room. That complicated matters, but it was still doable.

“We’re going to need a small diversion,” Harry said, “Just something to get Snape out of his office for a while so we can get the Gillyweed”

Ron and Hermione decided to handle that, after all, bullying Ron was Snape’s fourth favorite activity (after bullying Harry, bullying Neville, and brooding. In that order)

The two champions waited for Snape to leave his office. Luz had her Palisman prepped for spellcasting, and Harry’s cloak was almost all the way on, only his face was shown.

Then, a small explosion was heard from across the dungeon.

“What are those damn students doing now,” Snape muttered as he stomped out of his storage room, the door creaking loudly as he did so. He turned the corner to find the source of the noise. Luz and Harry took the queue to enter the room, both of them becoming completely transparent.

They dashed into the room, opening cupboards and drawers to check their contents. Quickly, Harry found a jar labeled ‘Gillyweed’ in one of the cupboards.

“How much does your potion call for?” Harry asked.

“Thirty grams,” She quickly answered, her invisibility fading. That did seem inconvenient how it did that.

Harry grabbed a small handful, by weight he guessed it was about a hundred grams, more than needed, but definitely helpful. Harry needed some too.

“Now, let’s get out of here before the grouch comes back,” Luz whispered, getting her spell back up. They closed the drawers and tried to sneak out, but Snape made his way back in before they could escape. Knowing that he would hear the door creak open, Harry needed another distraction. He quickly weighed his options, but Luz took action before he could think of anything. She must have drawn another spell circle because suddenly the door opened wide and Harry couldn’t hear a thing.

Harry took the opportunity and dashed out of Snape’s office. Harry didn’t hear anything as his shoes hit the cold stone floors. Eventually, Luz’s invisibility dropped about fifty meters from the storage room door.

Harry pulled down the hood of his cloak and tried to ask Luz what spell she had used, but the sound was stolen straight from his mouth. Luz made a shocked face and then cast another spell circle.

“Sorry about that, I forgot that I need to cast the counter-spell to undo the deafness spell.” Luz chuckled, “I’m still learning that one, but I think I’m getting the hang of it!”

“Thanks for that” Harry gasped, still out of breath from running out of Snape’s office.

“No problem!” She smiled. Harry pulled out the Gillyweed he had stolen and showed it to Luz.

“We should tell Hermione and Ron that we have some,” Harry muttered. Luz agreed.

The four of them met up and weighed the Gillyweed, it was a little over one hundred grams. Luz took thirty of it, getting as precise as she could, and then Harry took the rest.

“Thank you guys so much for the help! Now I guess I should go find Amity and tell her the good news!” She beamed as she left the Hogwarts students with the rest of the Gillyweed.

“Will this work for tomorrow?” Harry asked when they reached the Common room that night.

“That should work perfectly!” Neville said, looking at it, “That is Gillyweed, right?”

Harry nodded, which seemed to satisfy Neville.

“Just eat that right before the second task, and you should be good.” He explained.

“Thanks, Neville.” Harry said, “I’m going to head to bed, I’m getting pretty tired.”

Ron and Hermione wished him good night, but said that they had something else to do before they could go to bed.

“Good luck tomorrow Harry!” Hermione said. He smiled as he climbed the staircase into the dormitory.

Chapter Text

Luz and Amity waited outside the Owl House for the others to return. Hunter got back first, he held a bucket in one hand that was overflowing with Selkiegris. Waffle fluttered to his shoulder as he approached the door.

“Hunter!” Luz exclaimed, “You’re the first one back! I see the Selkidomus weren’t too bad.”

“Nope!” He beamed, “They didn’t recognize me without my mask. But…”

“I snuck with!” King exclaimed, erupting from the bucket. “They recognized me as a Titan, and gave me some as tribute! That, or they were just feeling generous,”

“Probably the latter,” Luz said,

“Nah!” King protested, “Definitely the former!”

Eda’s voice then called from inside, “What are you all yelling about? I’m trying to sleep!”

“We’re trying to make a potion for the second task tomorrow, but first everyone has to get back with the ingredients.” Luz defended.

“Oh, speaking of the task itself, Dumbledore told me to meet in his office at midnight, and it’s quarter ‘till.” Amity sighed embracing Luz into a bear hug, “I love you Luz, and I know you’re going to do great out there. Go show those other champions who’s boss!” 

“Good night, Amity. Te amo!” Luz replied.

And with that, the beautiful cotton candy-haired goddess released Luz from the hug and departed through the portal door.

Quickly, Gus returned with a small vial of deep-red blood he obtained from the Canadian Lake monster. He was trailed closely by Edric and Emira.

“Where’s little Mittens?” Emira asked.

“Professor Dumbledore needed her at the castle, I don’t know exactly why,” Luz said. As soon as the words escaped her lips, the realization of exactly why Amity had to go to Dumbledore’s office kicked in. Amity would be what the song meant by ‘what you’ll sorely miss’. Luz would have to save Amity from the Merpeople. “Oh, that’s why,” Was all that escaped her lips.

“Why?” Ed asked.

“The second task,” Luz said, “The hint was that we’ll have an hour to take back ‘what I’ll sorely miss’. I’m going to have to save Amity from a bunch of merpeople!”

“Well, don’t let my little sister die!” Ed said far too cheerfully.

“Did you at least get the Makara tears?”

Em pulled the vial from her pocket, “Did you really think we would let you down?”

Luz shook her head, and then Willow flew down on Clover. She held a lock of the Hippokampos’ hair in her left hand.

“Hey, Willow!” Hunter called, “Now we’re just waiting on Vee with the Kelpie water”

Willow smiled, “Well, at least you all didn’t have to wait too long for me! The Hippokampos did not want a haircut.”

Hunter and Luz both laughed at the comment. 

“Well, the Mugwump sure didn’t go down without a fight!” Gus said. “Had to spook it with an illusion of an even bigger one, then I made a dagger out of some earth, hardened it, and had to stab it. All that for a few drops of blood.”

Vee then returned, she was mounted on Owlbert and held up a vial of murky water. “I got the water!” she shouted as she landed.

“Great!” Luz exclaimed, “Now we just have to make the potion! What did the book say again?”

“Simmer it in one liter of water under moonlight until fully combined, should take like, two hours. Then, let it sit on low heat for two more hours. It’ll turn blue when done. Says it makes enough to last two hours” Eda said, holding the book.

“Thanks, Eda!” Luz said, grabbing a pot and filling it with water.

“Hang on kid!” Eda said, “Potions are very specific! When it says one liter, it means one liter, not 1.1 liters, okay? You have to be very precise!”

“Right…” Luz muttered, Potions was never her strongest track.

Once one liter of water was put into the pot, Eda brought it outside to simmer. She asked for every ingredient one by one. The gillyweed, the selkiegris (“Thanks for bringing the whole lot, I’m totally selling the rest!” Eda had said), the blood, tears, hair, and water. She started to brew the potion. Everyone else left so they could get a good night’s sleep. Luz stayed to watch the potion.

“Luz, no potion is going to help you tomorrow if you don’t get some sleep,” Eda nagged after ten minutes of Luz standing over her shoulder.

“But I need to make sure the potion is made correctly!”

“I was in the potions track at school!” Eda retorted, “And this potion isn’t even hard to make, get some sleep kid!”

Luz groaned, then begrudgingly departed for her upstairs bedroom. Mamá had taken the bed, so Luz slept in her sleeping bag. King soon cuddled up with her.

Luz’s alarm went off sooner than she would have liked. Not that that was saying much.

“Why did it have to be on a Saturday?” She grumbled as she got out of her sleep cacoon.

She then went into the bathroom, combed her hair, and was about to take a shower when she remembered that she was spending an hour at the bottom of a lake, she might as well shower after that.

Coming downstairs, she saw Eda collapsed on the couch, a bottle of blue potion sat corked on the counter.

Luz looked at the clock, it was only eight o’clock, and the second task started at nine-thirty. If she left around nine, she would probably be fine.

Deciding her nerves needed to calm, Luz decided to cook a couple griffin eggs for breakfast. Simple tasks like making eggs always put Luz’s mind at ease.

“Hey mija,” Camilla said, “Any chance you could add an egg for me in there?”

Luz nodded and cracked another egg wordlessly. 

“Nervous?” She asked. Luz nodded. “Well, you’re going to do great. You’re such a powerful, good witch. I know you’ll do amazing.”

Camilla gave Luz a big hug. Luz appreciated it, even if she didn’t say anything.

Luz made the eggs and served them up for herself and her mamá. Camilla held Luz’s hand and squeezed it tight.

“Hey, look at me,” Camilla said in a very soothing voice. “You don’t need too worry about the task. Even if you fail, the staff are going to save you and Amity. It’s okay, just do your best.” She gave Luz a kiss on the forehead. “You are a Noceda, do you know what that means? It means that you are to damn stubborn to give up on Amity. Buena suerte.”

Luz smiled, then finally spoke, “Thanks Mamá,”

Harry couldn’t sleep. For some reason whenever his eyes closed, he had visions of becoming stuck at the bottom of the lake and drowning. It got so bad that he eventually had to get out of his four-poster bed and go into the Common Room.

When he got downstairs, Harry took a seat next to the fireplace and stared into it for a while. It calmed his nerves. The graceful dance of the flames on the logs, enchanted so the fire would always burn.

Harry took a deep breath and calmed himself. If only I could talk to Sirius right now, He thought to himself. Eventually, he got out of the chair, despite his body screaming at him to stay in its comfy seat, and walked back to bed. Ron wasn’t in the dormitory, What did Dumbledore want? Harry wondered to himself.

He still struggled to sleep, but he eventually got his eyes shut, only for his alarm to blare what felt like only ten seconds later. Harry was tired and miserable, and he had the second task to do today.

He groaned and rolled out of bed. He got himself dressed for the task and looked in the mirror before leaving the dormitory. He looked like he had just been hit by a truck. His eye bags were bigger than ever, and his hair was somehow worse than normal.

A bit after nine o’clock, he made his way to the lake, he saw that the seats that had encircled the dragon’s enclosure were now facing the Black Lake, and they were packed to the brim. The six judges sat at the water’s edge. Cedric, Fleur, Krum, and Luz were all waiting.

“I’m here,” Harry said when he joined his fellow champions. Harry checked to make sure the gillyweed was in his pocket, luckily, it was. Luz was clutching a bottle of a blue liquid, probably the potion she had mentioned the previous night. The other three champions didn’t seem to have any sort of item to help them. Maybe they actually had figured out spells to use.

“Are you five ready?” Luda quietly asked, they all nodded. “All right then, Sonorus !” He shouted, his voice now booming just like it had at the World Cup.

“Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have precisely one hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three. One. Two. Three!”

The whistle echoed shrilly in the cold air. Harry pulled the gillyweed out of his pocket, stuffed it into his mouth, and waded into the icy water of the lake.

The water was so cold it felt more like fire on his legs. He chewed the gillyweed as hard and fast as he could; it was slimy and rubbery. He finally swallowed while waist-deep in the water.

He could hear laughter in the crowd, he must have looked so stupid, walking into the lake with no sign of magical power. The part of him that was still dry was covered in goosebumps. A freezing wind nearly blasted him back-first into the shallowest part of the lake.

Then, suddenly, it was as though someone had put a pillow over his mouth and nose. Harry tried to draw breath, but it made his head spin, his lungs were empty, and he suddenly felt a strong pain on either side of his neck.

Harry checked what was the cause of the pain, and he found that he had grown gills! Without pausing to think, Harry flung himself into the water. Taking a gulp of the icy water felt like a breath of life. Harry stretched out his hands and looked at them. They were green and ghastly under the water, and they were now webbed. He turned and saw that his feet were as well.

The water didn’t feel icy either, actually, it felt very pleasant. Harry started swimming, he didn’t have the time to admire his transformation. He swam remarkably quickly in this new form.

Silence pressed upon his ears as he swam through the dark, foggy landscape. Things seemed to appear out of thin air (or thin water in this case) about ten feet in front of him, so Harry had to be very careful not to run into things. There was no sign of any of the other champions, merpeople, Ron, nor (thankfully) the giant squid.

Suddenly, something grabbed his ankle. Harry twisted his body to see that a Grindylow had gotten its long fingers wrapped tightly around his leg. It bared its fangs. Harry fumbled to grab his wand. By the time he grabbed it, two more Grindylows had arrived, grabbing at his robes.

“Relashio!” He tried to shout, but no sound came out, only a large bubble. His wand, instead of casting the spell he wanted, shot what seemed to be a jet of boiling water at the Grindylows. That luckily scared them off.

After escaping from the Grindylows, Harry kept swimming for what felt like twenty minutes, until he finally heard a bit of that haunting mer-song.

An hour long you’ll have to look,

And to recover what we took…

Harry swam faster, following the source of the sound. He started to see the faces of merpeople. They didn’t resemble the painting of the mermaid in the prefect’s bathroom at all. They had grayish skin and long, dark green hair. Their eyes were yellow, as were their broken teeth, and they wore thick ropes of pebbles around their necks. They leered at Harry as he swam past; a few even emerged from their caves to watch him better.

Harry sped on, eventually reaching what seemed to be the merpeople’s town square. A choir of merpeople sang on, calling the champions to them. Behind them was a gigantic statue of a merperson. Five people were tied tightly to the tail of it.

Ron was tied between Hermione and Cho Chang. Amity Blight was on the far left, and a girl who looked no older than eight, whose silvery hair made Harry feel pretty certain that she was Fleur’s sister, was on the far right. All five of them appeared to be in some sort of a deep sleep. Their heads were lolling on their shoulders, and fine streams of bubbles kept issuing from their mouths.

Harry sped toward the hostages, half expecting the merpeople to lower their spears and charge at him, but they did nothing. The ropes holding the hostages to the statue were very strong. For a brief moment, he thought of the knife Sirius had given him for Christmas; locked in a trunk in the castle a quarter mile away.

Harry looked around. Many of the merpeople were holding spears, Harry tried miming the usage of one to cut the ropes at one of them, as a form of a request to borrow it. The merman laughed and shook his head.

“We do not help,” He said in a harsh, croaky voice. Harry protested, but only bubbles came out. He tried to take the spear, but that went about as well as he expected it to.

Harry looked around for anything sharp and eventually picked out a rather pointy rock on the lakebed. He began to hack at the ropes holding Ron, and after several minutes of hard work, he eventually got Ron free.

Harry looked around. There was no sign of the other champions. What were they doing? Harry turned to Hermione, and raised the jagged rock at her bindings, starting to hack away at them too.

Immediately, several pairs of strong, gray hands seized him. Half a dozen mermen were pulling him away from Hermione, shaking their green-haired heads and laughing.

“You take your own hostage,” one of them said, “Leave the others,”

“No way!” Harry fumed, but only bubbles came out.

“Your task is to retrieve your own friend, and leave the others.”

“They’re my friends too!” Harry protested. Pointing to Hermione and Amity. Only several bubbles emerged. “And I don’t want them to die, either!”

The silver-haired girl's head was on Cho’s shoulder; Hermione and Amity were resting on each other. Harry struggled to fight the mermen, who were still laughing wildly. Harry looked around, where were the other champions? Would he have time to take Ron to the surface, then come back for Hermione, Amity, and the others? Would he even be able to find them again? He looked at his watch to see how much time he had left, but it had stopped working.

Just then, the merpeople parted as Luz descended upon the statue. Ber Palisman had transformed into a fish and she was using Stringbean to propel herself. When she reached the hostages, Stringbean transformed into her regular snake form, though her tail was more like a knife. Luz used Stringbean to cut Amity free, and then she turned her attention to Hermione. But, much like they had for Harry, the merpeople grabbed Luz and stopped her from freeing Hermione. Large bubbles erupted from Luz’s mouth as she tried to protest.

Soon after, Cedric appeared, He had a humongous bubble around his head, which made his features seem wide and stretched.

Harry watched as Cedric pulled out a knife and cut Cho free. He pulled her upwards and out of sight.

Luz and Harry both swam to cut the other hostages free, but the merpeople held them back. While they were busy doing that, a human body with the head of a shark (probably Krum, Fleur would never have chosen a shark) swam to the statue and started to chew at the ropes binding Hermione to the statue. Unfortunately for him, his shark teeth weren’t exactly positioned to bite things smaller than a dolphin, and Harry felt quite sure that if Krum wasn’t careful, he could bite Hermione in two. Darting forwards, Harry tapped Krum on the shoulder, then handed him the jagged rock that he had used. Within seconds, Hermione was freed, and Krum brought her to the surface without looking back.

Now what? Harry thought desperately. Fleur still hadn’t shown up. Harry snatched the stone again, but the mermen closed in around Ron, Amity, and the little girl.

Harry pulled out his wand, and Luz soon backed him up, putting Stringbean into staff form. “Get out of the way!” Harry shouted.

Bubbles were what came out, but Harry had the distinct impression they had understood him, as the mermen had stopped laughing. Their yellow eyes focused on his wand, and they seemed scared.There might be a lot more of them than there were champions, but Harry could tell that they knew no more magic than the giant squid did.

“You’ve got until three!” Harry shouted, bubbles streaming from his mouth, he held up three fingers to make sure they got the point. Behind him, Luz readied her Palisman. “One.” He put down a finger, “Two,” He put down a second finger.

Before he got to three, the merpeople scattered. Stringbean transformed into a knife, and Harry used it to cut the silver-haired girl free. He wrapped one arm around Ron and the other arm around the girl. Luz helped carry Ron and had Amity in her other arm.

It was slow work, the gillyweed was leaving Harry’s system, his fingers and toes were no longer webbed, and breathing became increasingly difficult. Stringbean was probably the only reason any of them made it to the surface. The Palisman was pulling Luz, who in turn was dragging everyone else up with her. Harry could feel pain on the sides of his neck, and he suddenly was very aware of how wet the water in his mouth was.

Harry kicked with his normal, human feet as hard as he could, his brain was becoming very waterlogged, and he needed oxygen. He was about to pass out.

Without a moment to spare, his head finally broke the surface of the water. Luz, Amity, Ron, and the little girl all gasped for air as they emerged.

The crowd in the stands was making a great deal of noise; shouting and screaming, they all seemed to be on their feet.

“Wet, this, isn’t it?” Ron said rather cheerfully, “What did you two bring her for?”

Harry started, “Fleur didn’t turn up-”

“And we couldn’t just leave her,” Luz cut him off, stealing the words right from his mouth.

“Harry, Luz, you prats,” Ron scolded lightheartedly, “You didn’t take that song seriously, did you? Dumbledore wouldn’t have let any of us drown!”

“But the song said-”

“The song was only to make sure you got back in the time limit!” Ron said, “I hope you two didn’t spend too much time playing hero down there.”

Harry felt both stupid and annoyed. It was all very cushy for Ron; he’d been asleep, he hadn’t felt how eerie it was down there, or how very capable of murder the merpeople seemed to be.

Luz dragged Amity and the silver-haired girl to shore. Ron and Harry soon followed. Now that the gillyweed’s magic had worn off, the lake felt very cold.

Harry could see Madam Pomfrey fussing over Hermione, Krum, Cedric, and Cho, all of whom were wrapped in thick blankets. Dumbledore, Ludo Bagman, and Bump were all beaming at Harry, Luz, Ron, and Amity as they swam to the shore. Percy, who looked very white and somehow much younger than usual, dove into the lake to meet them. Meanwhile, Madame Maxime was trying to restrain Fleur, who was trying very hard to return to the water.

“Gabrielle! Gabrielle! Is she alive? Is she ‘urt?” She screamed.

Harry tried to tell her that Gabrielle was fine, but he was so tired he couldn’t talk, let alone shout. Percy seized his brother and yanked him back to shore (‘Gerroff, Percy, I’m all right!’); Dumbledore and Bagman pulled Harry upright, Camilla pulled her daughter up, and Bump pulled Amity out of the water. Fleur finally broke free from Madame Maxime and was now hugging her sister.

“Come here, you,” Madam Pomfrey said, seizing Harry, Luz, and Amity and wrapping them in towels so tightly Harry felt like he was wearing a straight jacket. She then forced a potion down their throats. Steam poured out of their ears.

“Well done Harry!” Hermione cried, “You did it!”

“You haff a water-beetle in your hair, Herm-own-ninny” Krum said.

Hermione just brushed the beetle away and continued to talk to Harry.

Dumbledore was crouching at the water’s edge, speaking with the same screeches as the merpeople do above water. He eventually stood up, turned to his fellow judges, and called them for a short discussion before they gave marks.

Madam Pomfrey freed Ron from Percy’s clutches and wrapped a towel around him much like she had done for everyone else.

A short while later, Ludo’s magnified voice echoed across the lake, “Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our decision. Merchieftainess Murcus has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have therefore decided to award marks, out of sixty for each of our champions as follows.

“Miss Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-Head charm, was attacked by Grindylows as she approached her goal, and failed to retrieve her hostage. We award her thirty points.”

“I deserved zero,” Fleur said throatily.

“Mister Cedric Diggory, who also used the Bubble-Head charm, was the first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour. We therefore award him fifty-five points” Bagman continued. Cheers erupted from the Hufflepuffs in the crowd. Harry’s heart sank, if Cedric was outside the time limit, he was definitely outside of it.

“Mister Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of transfiguration, which was nonetheless effective, and was second to return with his hostage.” Ludo said, “We award him forty-eight points.” Karkaroff clapped particularly hard for that one.

“Mister Potter and Miss Noceda, the former using Gillyweed and the latter using a water-breathing potion, returned with their hostages, and Miss Delacour’s hostage, last; and well outside the time limit. However, the Merchieftainess has informed us that Mister Potter was the first to arrive at the hostages, and Miss Noceda was the second. Their delay in return was due to their determination to return all hostages to safety, not just their own hostages.”

Ron and Hermione gave Harry half-exasperated, half-commiserating looks. Amity blushed at learning what her girlfriend had been doing.

“Most of the judges,” Bagman said, shooting Karkaroff a nasty look, “Feel that this shows moral fiber on behalf of our younger champions. However, Miss Noceda’s score is fifty-one, and Mister Potter’s score is fifty-three points.”

Harry’s stomach lept; he was now tied for first with Cedric. Ron and Hermione laughed and started applauding with the rest of the crowd.

“There you go, Harry!” Ron shouted over all the noise, “You weren’t being thick at all! You were showing moral fiber!”

“The third and final task,” Bagman continued, “Will take place at dusk on the twenty-fourth of June. The champions will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand.”

It’s over , Harry thought dazedly as Madam Pomfrey began to herd the Champions and hostages back to the castle and into dry clothes. It was over, now there was nothing to worry about for four months.

Chapter Text

Emira’s finger twirled in the air, the familiar movement tracing a blue ring in its wake.

“ Avius ” she recited, and the guinea pig she had been practicing on became a guinea fowl right before her eyes.

“Yes!” Emira squealed, practically jumping from excitement.

“Good job, twin sister,” Edric’s voice called, his guinea pig still sitting very non-avian on his desk.

“ Avius ” he stated. The rodent sprouted feathers and a beak, its front legs became wings, and it grew several sizes.

“Yes!” Fred shouted.

“Good job to both of you!” George added, his red hair dancing from the open window like flames on a log.

“Hey, you’ve taught us so much Human magic,” Emira started, glancing at Ed to make sure they were on the same wavelength.

“What would you say if we returned the favor,” Edric finished.

“Like, us learning Witch magic?” Fred asked, “Blimey, that sounds brilliant!”

“We’d love to learn some of your tricks!” George said.

“Well,” Emira started, she was definitely the better teacher out of the Blight twins, “What kind of magic do you want to start with? Illusions? Or perhaps Healing?”

“Or maybe Beast Keeping or Potions?” Edric interjected.

“Nah, definitely not potions, we get enough of that from Snape,” Fred answered.

“But maybe illusions, that ought to make some great pranks!” George added, “But with how much we injure ourselves, I feel like Madam Pomfrey would kill for us to learn some healing magic,”

“And that’s saying a lot, I’m pretty sure she’s a staunch pacifist,” Fred concluded. The two Weasleys then sat there, debating between Healing and Illusions.

“We could teach you both,” Emira offered, “Of course, my brother hasn’t taken any healing track classes, but I have. And we’re both master illusionists.”

“That should work!” Fred said, ending the small debate.

Emira took a deep breath, “Well, let’s start with illusions. There are three main kinds of illusions: Concealments, Creations, and Coverings. First are concealments, these are the most basic illusions. A concealment illusion, well, conceals and object or person, making it invisible. Since they’re the most basic illusions, this is what we teach beginning illusion students when they pick the illusion track, traditionally at the start of the sixth grade.

“Next are creations, these are a bit harder to do. A creation illusion creates a vision of an object or person. Be warned, they aren’t real, and if a real object or person makes contact with a creation, it fades immediately. Since these are a bit harder, they typically get taught to intermediate illusionists, around ninth grade if I remember correctly.

“Finally are coverings. These are the hardest illusions to do, even at a small scale, at least out of what they teach you in school, there are harder kinds of illusions with niche use cases, but those are outside of the curriculum. Covering illusions are a bit of a combination of concealments and creations, it’s where you make an object look like something else. We only just recently started covering those in our advanced illusion classes, so I don’t think we’ll get to those anytime soon.”

Fred and George had both gotten a pen and paper out and had been taking careful notes.

“Need me to repeat anything?” She asked once they finished writing.

“Yeah, what was that bit about creations and other objects?” George asked, “I didn’t quite catch it.”

Emira gladly answered the handsome wizard’s question, “If a creation makes contact with a physical object, the object is unaffected, and the creation dissolves into a small cloud of blue magic.”

George jotted that down, muttering “Illusions… can’t… touch…. stuff…”

He lifted his head, showing his preparation for more content. Fred followed suit quickly.

“When making an illusion, you have to remember the three Ds, definition, deliberation, and deception. Definition - you have to keep a clear, definite image of what you want to happen, otherwise the spell won’t know what to do. Deliberation, you can’t just imagine it, you have to focus, deliberate, on what you’re doing.” Emira continued, hoping her twin would pick up the lecture soon, her vocal chords were not used to this much talking. The Weasleys wrote down her every word, George with extra enthusiasm.

“And lastly, but certainly not least,” Edric finally picked up, “Is deception - since Illusions are all about making the world seem different from what’s really there, you need that intent to deceive everyone around you.”

“How about you two give it a try?” Emira offered. The red-headed twins agreed, and drew their wands.

“Let’s start with a basic illusion,” Edric said, finally taking over the lecture, “Try making this pencil invisible,” He pulled a pencil out from his pocket, and held it in front of the Weasleys.

“Err, what incantation do we use?” Fred asked.

“Boiling Isles magic doesn’t use incantations,” Edric said.

George twirled his wand in the air, but nothing happened. Fred tried as well, to similar results.

Fred and George took turns trying to make the pencil invisible. After several attempts, George managed to make the pencil jump out of Edric’s hand, but it still was clearly very yellow on the floor, not the slightest bit transparent.

Fred groaned in frustration.

“It’s okay,” Edric comforted, “Most people do much worse than this on their first try.”

“If I remember correctly, you couldn’t properly conceal so much as a thumbtack until almost the end of seventh grade. If you hadn’t gotten that by the end of the year, Odalia was going to make you change to the Abomination track with Mittens. Luckily for both of you, you figured it out eventually, and Mittens is a prodigy at Abominations.”

“Emira!” Ed whined, “Did you have to mention that on front of them? Now Fred will never think I’m cool!”

“What, do you mean me?” Fred asked, “Well, bloody hell, of course I think you’re cool! Look at you! You two are naturals at Transfiguration! And you are studying that and all of your Hexside courses! Plus, you’re bloody handsome, and a hell of a prankster. You two are the coolest people I ever met. And that’s saying something, ickle Ronnykins is best friends with Harry fucking Potter.”

George beamed in agreement. “Not to mention, you two were part of a resistance group to defeat a fascist who reminds me of an inverse you-know-who, wanting to genocide magic-kind and all.”

“And clearly, this stuff isn’t easy, just look at how much we’re struggling with it!” Fred added. That seemed to cheer up Emira’s brother.

The lesson continued for some time, and both Humans failed to make the pencil fully invisible by the end of the lesson, though Emira was pretty sure she saw it fade a bit on one of George’s last attempts. That might have been wishful thinking though.

As March approached, the weather became drier, but fierce winds skinned their hands and faces every time they went onto the grounds. There were delays in receiving the mail because the owls kept getting blown off course. The brown owl Harry had sent to Sirius with the dates for the next Hogsmeade weekend arrived at breakfast one Friday morning with half of its feathers sticking up the wrong way. Harry had no sooner taken the letter from it than it took flight, clearly not wanting to go back out there to deliver more mail.

Sirius’ letter was almost as short as his previous one.

Be at stile at the end of the road out of Hogsmeade (past Dervish and Banges) at two o’clock on Saturday afternoon. Bring as much food as you can.

“He hasn’t come back to Hogsmeade, has he?” Ron said incredulously.

“It looks like it,” Hermione said.

“I can’t believe him,” Harry tensely stated, “If he’s caught…”

“He’s made it this far, hasn’t he?” Ron said, “And unlike last year, this place isn’t crawling with Dementors out for his soul,”

Harry folded up the letter. Harry really wanted to see his godfather again, so the idea of doing just that made his final class that day, double potions, seem much more tolerable than normal.

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were huddled outside the classroom door with Pansy Parkinson’s gang of Slytherin girls. All of them were looking at something Harry couldn’t see and were sniggering heartily.

“There they are, there they are!” Pansy giggled when she saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione approaching. The knot of Slytherins broke apart, and Harry saw that Pansy had a Witch Weekly magazine in her hands.

“You might find something interesting in there, Granger!” Pansy shouted, throwing the magazine at Hermione. At that moment, the door to the dungeon opened, and Snape beckoned them inside.

The trio went for a table at the back of the classroom as usual. Once Snape turned his back to write potion ingredients on the blackboard, Hermione hastily opened the magazine and found near the middle of the booklet the article the Slytherins must have been laughing at.

Harry Potter’s Secret Heartache

A boy like no other, perhaps — yet a boy suffering all the usual pangs of adolescence, writes Rita Skeeter. Deprived of love since the tragic demise of his parents, fourteen year old Harry Potter thought that he had found solace in his steady girlfriend at Hogwarts, Muggle-born Hermione Granger. Little did he know that he would shortly be suffering yet another emotional blow in a life already littered with personal loss.

Miss Granger, a plain but ambitious girl, seems to have a taste for famous wizards that Harry alone cannot satisfy. Since the arrival at Hogwarts of Viktor Krum, Bulgarian Seeker and hero of the last Quidditch World Cup, Miss Granger has been toying with both boys' affections. Krum is openly smitten with the devious Miss Granger, has already invited her to stay with him in Bulgaria over the summer holidays and insists that he has "never felt this way about any other girl."

However, it may not be Miss Granger's doubtful natural charms that have captured these unfortunate young boys' interests.

"She's really ugly," says Pansy Parkinson, a pretty and vivacious fourth year student, "but she'd be well-up to making a Love Potion, she's quite brainy. I think that's how she's doing it."

Love Potions are, of course, banned at Hogwarts, and no doubt Albus Dumbledore will want to investigate these claims. In the meantime, Harry Potter's well-wishers must hope that, next time, he bestows his heart on a worthier candidate.

“I told you not to annoy that Skeeter woman!” Ron hissed. “She’s made you out to be some sort of scarlet woman!”

Hermione stopped looking astonished and snorted with laughter. “Scarlet woman?” She repeated, barely stopping herself from exploding into laughter.

“That’s what my mum calls them…” Ron muttered, his ears turning as red as his hair.

“If that’s the best Skeeter can do, she’s losing her touch,” Hermione snorted as she threw Witch Weekly onto the empty chair beside her, “What a load of rubbish,”

The Slytherins were caught staring at the trio. Hermione gave them a sarcastic smile and a wave. The three of them started to unpack the ingredients they needed for their potion.

“There is something funny though,” Hermione said ten minutes later, holding her pestle over a bowl of scarab beetles. “How could Rita Skeeter have known…?”

“Known what?” Ron inquired, “You haven’t been making Love Potions, have you?”

“Don’t be stupid,” Hermione snapped, pounding her beetles, “It’s just… how did she know Viktor asked me to visit him over the summer?”

She blushed scarlet as she did this, avoiding Ron’s eyes determinedly.

“What?” Ron asked.

“He asked me right after he’d pulled me out of the lake,” Hermione muttered, “After he got rid of his shark head. Madam Pomfrey gave us both blankets and then he pulled me away so no one would hear, and then he asked me. He did say that he hasn’t felt the same way about anyone else,” Hermione went on, becoming so red even Amity would be impressed, “but how could Rita Skeeter have heard him? She wasn’t there, or was she? Maybe she has an Invisibility Cloak and snuck onto the grounds to see the second task.”

“Fascinating though you social life undoubtedly is, Miss Granger,” an icy voice said right behind them, “I must ask you do not discuss it in my class. Ten points from Gryffindor.”

“Ah, reading magazines as well?” He added, “Another ten points from Gryffindor I’m afraid.” Snape’s obsidian eyes fell on Rita Skeeter’s article, “Oh but of course, Potter has to keep up with his press cuttings.”

The dungeon filled with the mocking laughs of the Slytherins. To Harry’s fury, Snape began to read the article aloud.

“ Harry Potter’s Secret Heartache , oh, dear, what’s ailing you now, Potter?” He mocked.

Harry could feel his face burning. Snape was pausing at the end of every sentence to allow the Slytherins a hearty laugh. As bad as it was in ink, it sounded ten times worse in Snape’s cruel voice.

Snape separated the trio, and forced Harry to the front of the room, so as to allow Snape to mock him from the comfort of his blackboard. Harry did his best to ignore him, but snapped when he mentioned breaking into his office.

“I haven’t been anywhere near your office!” He shouted, ignoring the events barely a week prior.

“Don’t lie to me, Potter!” Snape spat, “Boomslang skin, Gillyweed. Both came from my private stores, and I know who stole them.”

Harry stared directly back into Snape’s eyes. In truth, he had only stolen the Gillyweed, but the Boomslang skin had been taken by Hermione in their second year for the Polyjuice Potion.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Harry lied coldly.

“You were out of bed the night my office was broken into!” Snape hissed, “I know it, Potter! Mad-Eye Moody might have joined your little fan club, but I will not tolerate your behavior! One more night-time stroll into my office, and I will personally ensure you never step foot into this castle again!”

“Right,” Harry said coolly, turning to cutting his ginger roots, “I’ll keep that in mind if I ever feel like going there,”

Snape’s eyes flashed, and he reached into his pocket. Harry was sure that Snape was about to pull out his wand and curse him, but instead he pulled out a small vial of a completely clear potion.

“Do you know what this is, Potter?”

“No,” Harry said truthfully.

“This is Veritaserum, a Truth potion so powerful that just three drops would have you spilling your deepest secrets for this entire dungeon to hear,” Snape said viciously, “And unless you watch your step, my hand might just slip,” He shook the bottle slightly, “RIght over your evening Pumpkin Juice.”

Harry said nothing, he turned back to his ginger roots once more, trying to ignore Snape’s hollow threats.

There was a knock on the door.

“Enter,” Snape said in his usual voice.

Professor Karkaroff entered, and marched straight toward the potions master.

“We need to talk,” Karkaroff said abruptly.

“We can talk after class,” Snape muttered.

“We need to talk now, so you can’t just slip away again.”

“After. The. Lesson”

Karkaroff stayed in the classroom, ensuring Snape couldn’t escape, for the rest of the lesson.

“What is so urgent anyway?” Snape whispered after the bell rang.

“ This ” Karkaroff said, pulling up his sleeve, “It hasn’t been this clear since-”

“Put it away!” Snarled Snape.

“But you must have noticed!”

“We can talk later,” Snape spat. Harry tried to sneak a glance at Karkaroff’s lower arm, but he fell out of his chair.

“Potter!” Snape yelled, “What are you doing?”

“I was trying to clean up my armadillo bile, sir,” Harry defended innocently.

“And so, you fell out of your chair,” He said under his breath, not buying a word of it. Karkaroff turned and strode out of the dungeon.

Harry, not wanting to stay alone in a room with an angry Snape, grabbed his backpack and left as quickly as he could.

Chapter Text

He was angry. Actually, he wasn’t just angry, he was furious! He was destined to cleanse the world! Make it pure! And yet he had been bested by a child, a child ! How could he be beaten so easily? All of his attempts to extend his life were for naught, all the pain he had caused did nothing to save him when it mattered most! No, this would not be the end, he refused to allow this to be the end. He would have his revenge! He had heard from his spies that a tournament was being held, and he had formed a plan. He shall come back! Not now, but in a few months, he will come back. Then he will have his revenge.

Philip Whittebane will have his revenge. Luz Noceda will not survive this tournament.

“Edalyn, are you sure this is a good idea?” Lilith asked her enthusiastic sister.

“Of course it is!” Edalyn beamed, “Why are you so hesitant Lily?”

“Because it seems stupid, and it’s not going to work! That’s why!” Lilith defended.

“Not with that attitude!” Edalyn countered optimistically.

Lilith groaned, Edalyn was just impossible sometimes.

“Do you even have a plan?” Raine asked.

“Of course, I have a plan!” Edalyn quickly defended, “Would I really call you two here if I didn’t?”

“Yes,” Raine and Lilith said in unison.

“So, what is your plan?” Lilith inquired.

“So, I was talking to the old guy who’s in charge of the Human magic school, Bumbledore, or whatever his name is.” Edalyn explained, “And I eventually mentioned the curse. And he said that sounded like an ancient curse from his world that he knew of; and that he could maybe cure it,”

“And I’m just supposed to trust that kooky old man?” Lilith asked, “He’s a wizard ! He wears casual drapery ! Edalyn! I thought you were smarter than this!”

“Lily,” Edalyn reassured, “Just because wizards here in the Demon Realm are like that, doesn’t mean that the Human wizards are.”

“You need to check your biases,” King added unhelpfully, popping out of Edalyn’s hair.

Her sister stood up, “Well, we don’t want to dilly-dally!”

Raine and Lilith followed Edalyn through the portal door, and into the Human Realm.

“Oh, so this is the Human Realm I keep hearing so much about,” Raine said, fascinated by the differences between the two worlds, such as green grass and a blue sky.

“Oh, yeah,” Edalyn said, “I keep forgetting that you haven’t been over here. Welcome to the Human Realm!”

“I know you said things were different colors over here, but I wasn’t quite expecting this !” They said, “The sky is such a beautiful blue!”

A sudden gust of wind knocked them over.

“Rainestorm!” Edalyn cried, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, thanks, Eda.” Raine said, getting up, “Guess the weather is annoying in every realm,”

The three witches made their way to the front entrance of the castle, which Lilith found fascinating.

“Ooh! Are those real Human Realm gargoyles?” She squealed, “They look so much better than Luz described them as!” Lilith really wished she had brought her journal to write all of this down in, Flora Desplora could never compete with these genuine tenth-century human feats of stone.

“Lily, don’t get too excited yet,” Edalyn told her.

“Too late!” She cried, summoning her scroll to take pictures of the fascinating architecture the Human Witches had made.

“Well, while you’re doing that, I’m going to get my magic back!” Eda cried, entering the castle.

Lilith followed her sister, mostly to make sure she didn’t try to steal everything that wasn’t nailed down. Raine might be with her, but Lilith still figured her sister would find a way to steal at least some stuff.

Lilith, Edalyn, and Raine all made their way to the second floor of the castle (Lilith was completely enthralled by the balusters on the marble staircase). They eventually reached a large eagle-like gargoyle. Edalyn stopped, at a loss for what to do.

“Hmm, the old guy said this was the right place, but I don’t know what to do here,” Eda muttered.

“Maybe try saying the password,” The gargoyle whispered.

“There’s a password?” Eda said, surprised.

Before anyone had time to stop and try to think of a password, the gargoyle got out of the way, and an old man with white hair and a white beard, both so long they could easily be tucked into his belt, greeted them. He was clad in vibrant green, white, and blue robes, and they seemed to wave like a flag in the ancient corridor.

“Ah!” He beamed, his blue eyes twinkling behind his half-moon glasses, “There you are, Miss Clawthorne. And you must be her sister, Lilith. And if I’m not mistaken, you are Edalyn’s enbyfriend, Mx. Raine Whispers, is that correct?”

“Well, if you put it like that…” Raine said bashfully, their cheeks turning bright red. Lilith can never understand how people get like that.

“Now, if I’ve heard correctly, you were cursed by Lilith, correct?” He asked Eda.

“Yes,” Eda answered, “But don’t be mad at her!” She quickly added.

“I wasn’t planning on it, we all make mistakes in the heat of the moment, and sometimes our loved ones get caught in the crossfire. I know that pain all too well.” The old man said, seeming like he was thinking back to when his hair had as much color as his robes.

“What was the name of the curse, the full name,” He asked Lilith as the four of them climbed a staircase into his office.

“The Curse of the Owl Beast,” Lilith responded, feeling guilty.

“Ah, I remember that one,” He said, stroking his magnificent beard, “But if my memory serves me correctly, which it tends to do,” He seemed to glance in one of the corners of his office when he said that, “It only lasts for a day, so why has your curse lasted for twenty years?”

“I-I don’t know, professor,” Lilith mumbled.

“Perhaps it affects Witches more heavily than it affects us Humans, or perhaps it’s due to an error in casting,” He started to hypothesize, “Regardless, I do believe I can help you two witches in healing your affliction,”

“Oh, yes, please do,” Edalyn said, “I’ve been dying to get my magic back.”

Dumbledore got out a training wand, ( Can’t Humans do magic innately? She wondered) and he waved it in the air, muttering a word that Lilith didn’t catch.

“There, that should do the trick,” He said, putting the training wand back down.

“What, just like that?” Lilith asked, thinking it was some sort of joke.

“Yes, just like that,” He answered lightly.

Eda drew a spell circle in the air, and a ball of pure, white light emerged from the circle.

“Aw yeah!” Eda yelled, standing on her chair “I am so fucking back!!”

“Edalyn!” Lilith said, “Watch your language!”

“Oh, sorry, sir,” Edalyn mumbled, sitting back down.

“I have gone temporarily deaf and haven’t any idea what you said,” Dumbledore said, placing the training wand back into his colorful robes.

Edalyn cast another spell and another. Lilith soon joined her, equally excited at the return of her magic. Soon enough, the room was filled with all sorts of magical creations. Lilith, getting a bit too carried away, accidentally shot a fireball at one of the portraits that hung on the wall.

“Watch it! You nearly hit me!” A voice shouted, seeming to come from the portrait itself. Do paintings talk in this world? Lilith wondered.

Raine embraced Edalyn in a hug, sharing every bit of her enthusiasm.

“Hold on, let me try something,” Lilith said, wondering if…

YES! It worked! She could still fly with her raven wings.

“Huh, so we get the upside still?” Edalyn said, “That’s great! I was just starting to get used to having wings,”

“I’m not,” Raine muttered, “But I still think it looks great on you,”

“Not nearly as great as those scars Belos left on you. They make your face so much more beautiful,” Edalyn replied, which got a blush from Raine.

Why do they have to flirt with each other all the time? Lilith wondered.

“Well, if the two love-griffins don’t mind, I’m going to go explore this castle,” Lilith said, more checking if Dumbledore was okay with that than if her sister or (probably) future sibling-in-law were.

Dumbledore gave her a nod, and his eye twinkled like a star. Lilith took that as an okay from the headmaster, so she left to go geek out about balusters in peace.

“Flora can go eat it, I found all sorts of cool historical treasures from the Human Realm. That’s right, me! Bad Girl Historian Lilith Clawthorne did!” She said to herself after exiting the office.

“Good for you, we all should acknowledge the importance of learning history,” An extremely dry and tired voice said. Lilith turned and saw a ghost floating before her.

“Oh, hello,” Lilith said, “Sorry, I didn’t see you there,”

“I often get that from my students,” The ghost said, “Say, I’ve never seen you around. And I’ve never, in all my years at this school, seen anyone nearly as interested in history as you seem to be.”

“Well, you’ve never seen me because I’m not a student or faculty member here, I’m a visitor from Hexside,”

“Ah, so you’re here for that dumb tournament thing,” The ghost sighed, seeming to find the entire thing a waste of time, “Did you know? The first Triwizard Tournament was held in the year eleven-thirty-two. It was held here at Hogwarts. I remember that tournament very vividly, yes, a Ravenclaw student by the name of-”

“Bah!” A new voice interrupted, “Who gives a damn about some dumb history? That stuff is for nerds !”

Another figure materialized, he seemed much like a ghost, but instead of being pale like the other ghosts of Hogwarts (or even the Demon Realm, for that matter), this new figure was dressed in loud, obnoxious colors that seemed ripped straight out of the nineteen-eighties. “Then again, you would probably talk to a rock about history and think it was worthwhile, wouldn’t you, Binnsy? A rock might even listen to you more than your students do!”

The poltergeist (that’s what Lilith assumed he must be) erupted into a huge fit of laughter, as though his joke was the funniest thing ever.

“Hey!” Lilith shouted at it, “I was listening to him! I found it rather interesting!”

“Peeves! Will ya shut up for five minutes!” A completely new voice shouted, the source of which seemed to be an old, hunchbacked man who had seemingly come out of nowhere, “I already have to clean up the mess those Weasleys made with their Demon friends, so can you not get on my nerves for once in your goddamn life!”

“Oh, but Filchy-poo, what’s the fun in that?” The poltergeist, apparently named Peeves, replied condescendingly.

Peeves then went on to bully “Filchy-poo”, leaving Lilith alone with the history professor, who seemed eager to continue his lecture.

Sirius waited patiently for his Godson to arrive. He hoped the boy remembered the food, he was basically starving. Rats and the occasional scraps from the Three Broomsticks are not enough to sustain a grown adult.

“Hello, Sirius,” Harry said upon arrival.

Oh, Sirius could smell the food, it made his mouth water. Sirius’s tail wagged, and he led the way from Hogsmeade to the cave he had been calling home for the past few months.

Sirius was used to the long climb up the mountain by now, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione were lagging behind.

Finally, they reached the narrow fissure in the rock that led to his humble abode. Buckbeak sat in wait for him. His orange eye flashed upon seeing the teenagers. The trio all bowed toward the magnificent beast. Hermione began to stroke Buckbeak’s neck when he returned the bow, but Harry was focusing on Sirius, who had just transformed from a dog into his human form.

“Chicken!” Sirius managed hoarsely, obtaining Harry’s generous gifts, a dozen or so chicken legs, a loaf of bread, and a flask of pumpkin juice.

“Thanks,” Sirius said after practically inhaling one of the legs, “I’ve been living off of rats mostly, can’t steal too much from town, I’d draw attention to myself.”

Sirius grinned at his godson, who seemed hesitant to return it.

“What are you doing here, Sirius?” The boy asked.

“Fulfilling my duty as your godfather,” Sirius said, gnawing on another chicken leg. “Don’t worry about me, I’m doing very well at pretending to be just a lovable stray,”

Sirius noticed Harry’s face still being filled with anxiety, so he replied more seriously, “I want to be as close as possible. Your last letter… well, let’s just say things aren’t getting any less suspicious. I’ve been stealing the paper every chance I get, and I’m not the only one getting worried.”

Sirius nodded at the countless yellowing pages of The Daily Prophet littering the floor of the cave.

Harry still wasn’t relieved, “What if they catch you? What if you’re seen?”

“You three and Dumbledore are the only ones around here who know I’m an Animagus, and the only others are Moony and bitchface-I mean Wormtail” Sirius told his godson.

Ron and Harry examined the papers, news of Crouch’s disappearance, and another on Bertha Jorkins still being missing. Harry seemed particularly troubled by the one on Mr. Crouch.

“They’re making it seem like he’s dying,” Harry said, “But he can’t be that ill if he managed to get up here. Then again, he did look ill last time I saw him on the night my name came out of the Goblet,”

“Getting his comeuppance for sacking Winky, isn’t he?” Hermione interjected coldly. She was stroking Buckbeak, who was crunching up Sirius’ chicken bones.

“Crouch sacked his house-elf?” Sirius asked.

“Yeah, at the World Cup,” Harry explained, launching into a story of what happened that night, the Dark Mark making an appearance, and Winky being found with Harry’s wand in her hand. And Mr. Crouch’s fury.

When Harry finished, Sirius stood up, grabbed a fourth chicken leg, and started pacing the cave.

“Let me get this straight,” He said after a while, “You first saw the elf in the Top Box. She was saving a seat for Crouch, but he never showed up?”

“No,” Harry said, “I think he said he was too busy or something,”

“Harry,” Sirius said after a pause, “Did you check your pockets for your wand when you left the Top Box?”

Harry admitted he had not, he had only checked when he was in the forest, where it had turned up missing.

“Are you saying whoever conjured the Mark stole my wand in the Top Box?” He asked.

“It’s possible,” Sirius replied.

“Winky didn’t steal that wand!” Hermione defended shrilly

“I’m pretty sure the elf wasn’t the only one in the box with you,” Sirius replied, “Who else was sitting behind you?”

“Loads of people,” Harry told, “Some Bulgarian ministers, Cornelius Fudge, the Malfoys, and Ludo Bagman,”

“I don’t know much about Ludo Bagman, other than that he used to play Quidditch,” Sirius admitted, “What’s he like?”

“He’s okay,” Harry said, “He keeps trying to help me with the tournament,”

“Does he, now?” Sirius said, frowning deeply, “I wonder why,”

“We saw him in the forest just before the mark appeared,” Hermione added.

“What?” Ron asked incredulously, “Do you really think Bagman conjured the Dark Mark?”

“He’s more likely to have done it than Winky!”

“Will you give it a rest with the elf?”

Sirius put up a hand to silence Ron, “She’s got a better measure of Crouch than you do, Ron. If you want to know what a man’s like, see how he treats his inferiors, not his equals,”

Sirius stroked his beard, “All of these absences, it’s all very unlike him. If he’s ever taken a day off work before this, I’ll eat Buckbeak.”

“You know him, then?” Harry asked.

“I don’t just know him, he’s the one who sent me to Azkaban without a trial,” Sirius said quietly. He explained to the confused teenagers that he had been very strongly against Dark magic at a time when doing so would often get you killed. That he had authorized new powers for aurors, and that he fought violence with violence. But eventually, Crouch’s son ended up in Azkaban and later died.

By the time his explanation was finished, it was three thirty, so Harry, Ron, and Hermione needed to get back to school.

But before they left, Sirius caught his godson, “Listen, Harry.” he said, “I don’t want you sneaking out of school to see me, just send me notes here. I still want to know if anything odd is happening. And don’t forget, when you’re talking amongst yourselves, call me Snuffles,”

Sirius did his best to smile at the boy he was looking at. He resembled his father almost perfectly, but he still had his mother’s emerald eyes.

Sirius transformed back into a dog and walked back to Hogsmeade with them.

Chapter Text

Vee was wandering the grounds of Hogwarts, realizing that today marked two years since her escape from the Emperor’s Coven. She transformed back into her snake-like form as easily as she breathed upon finding a nice spot near the forest to lie down. Vee breathed a sigh of relief, two years of freedom, two years since the Emperor’s Coven had been her, for lack of a better word, home. Two years… since she had seen any of her siblings.

As much as Vee didn’t want to admit it, part of her wanted to go back to the Coven for the longest time, just so she could be with her siblings. Sure, they had been held captive since birth, and had never so much as seen the sun before, they had each other, and Vee missed that. She wanted to find her four siblings.

“Well, yer an awfully interesting creature,” A deep, but warm voice said. “What’re ya doing here?”

Vee opened her eyes and saw a very large man standing over her.

“Oh, hi.” She said awkwardly, “Sorry, am I in your way?”

“It can talk , ” she heard him mutter quietly.

“Not at all! I jus saw yeh over here an' thought I might wan' ter get a closer look. I've never seen anything like yeh before.” The humongous man said more audibly, “D’you have a name?”

“I’m Vee,” She said, “I’m a basilisk, we’re supposed to be extinct, that’s why you haven’t seen one of my kind before,”

“A basilisk?” The man asked, “Yeh look nothin' like a basilisk! I’ve dealt with ‘em before, basilisks are fifty feet long an' can kill with a stare. Since I'm still here, summat isn' adding up.”

“Well that isn’t right at all,” Vee pondered, “I’ve never heard of us being able to kill with only a glance, all we can do is steal magic and transform. That was enough for Witches and other Demons alike to want us all gone,”

“Witches an’ Demons?” He inquired, “Are yeh from tha' other place? The Demon Realm or summat like tha'?”

Vee nodded, then got up off the ground. “Actually, could you help me with something?”

“Tha' depends, wha' d'you need me ter do?” He asked.

“Well, two years ago today, I finally got free from the prison I was born and raised in, but I had to leave my siblings behind,” She fessed.

“Lemme guess, yeh wan' ter go find your siblings?” The absolutely enormous man said, “O' course I’ll help! that’s wha' I do, I help magical creatures. It’s literally me job.”

“By the way, if we’re working together, I should probably learn your name,” She figured.

“Rubeus Hagrid, at your service.” He introduced.

“Well, Hagrid.” Vee said, “First we have to get to the prison I came from, which is under the Heart of the Titan, in the Demon Realm.”

“Lead the way,” Hagrid said.

And so, Vee did. She led the way all the way from the Owl House to under the castle, where she and her siblings had been held.

“We actually have basilisks in the Human Realm too,” Hagrid explained on the way to the castle, “But they are nothin' like wha' you’re like. Basilisks in the Human Realm are vicious, bloodthirsty monsters on'y even capable o' birth if a toad incubates a chicken egg. They can kill with a direct glance, an' petrify if the glance is indirect, like through a camera or mirror. Their venom is one o' the most destructive things in the world, if yeh don’t get ter a hospital within minutes o' infection, you’re a goner.”

“Wow,” Vee said, “That’s crazy. Basilisks here are feared, for somewhat good reason. We’re the only things capable of stealing a Witch’s magic but doesn’t hunting us to extinction seem a bit too far?”

“Yer righ', tha' is too far.” Hagrid agreed, “Much the same has happened ter countless species in the human realm. Anything the wizards fear ends up dead. But they're important ter the ecosystem! yeh can' jus remove the apex predator an' 'spect everything ter be fine!”

They approached the monolith that had been Vee’s residence for far too long and might still be where the others were.

Vee spotted the door to the only staircase down. She opened it, the once-pristine marble staircase spiraled down and down and down, into what looked to be an endless abyss of darkness.

“Erm, I’m not too sure I can fit in tha’ door, is there another way in?” Hagrid asked nervously upon sight of it.

“You could just bust it down, no one’s gonna miss it,” Vee said, “No one’s lived in the castle since Belos was defeated. The United Isles Parliament unanimously agreed to leave the building for the Titan to reclaim,”

The half-giant burst through the brick wall surrounding the doorway.

“The Titan?” Hagrid asked, confused.

“The Boiling Isles are actually the skeleton of a massive creature, known as a Titan.” Vee explained as she started to descend the spiral stairs, “Since we all live on its corpse, it’s revered almost as a God to us. Luz actually had the pleasure of meeting him right before he passed on.”

“If we’re all on his corpse, then how did Luz meet ‘im?” Hagrid inquired, rightfully curious.

“You know, it was really unclear.” Vee said, her hand on her chin.

They started to descend the stairs to the deepest part of the basement. Unfortunately, the elevator had stopped working in the months since its abandonment.

Their altitude kept declining.

After about fifty steps, the entire building shook violently. Vee almost fell down the center hole of the spiral staircase.

“What was tha’?” Hagrid asked, “Are yeh okay?”

“Yeah,” Vee said, “I’m fine,”

They continued their descent, it was almost completely dark now. Vee was sure to be a bit more cautious and started to hug the wall a bit.

They went back to descending.

And going down.

About halfway down, or so Vee guessed, Hagrid asked another question. “If Basilisks were extinct for centuries, how did Belos bring yeh back?”

“I…” Vee paused, “I don’t want to think about that.”

They kept descending.

And going down the stairs.

And lowering their elevation.

And reaching lower and lower floors of the basement.

And then they went back to just plain ol’ descending.

When they were near the bottom, Vee saw a dim light.

Vee was so excited, she almost cried, “We’re almost-”

Before she could finish her sentence, the castle rumbled again, this time much more strongly. She started to fall down the center hole. Luckily, a hand the size of a trashcan lid wrapped around her gently, stopping her from falling.

“I gotcha,” He said softly.

They went back to going down the massive stairs.

Finally reaching the bottom of the massive stairs, Vee guessed that they were about a mile below the surface, the two of them saw five cells, labeled with Roman numerals in order from farthest to closest to the stairs. On the other side of the room, there was a desk covered in papers. Cell numbers I, II and V were empty. Vee was obviously free, one of the others must have been the basilisk that had invaded the schools and died at the hands of Luz and her friends. As much as she resented Luz for that, she did understand why it happened. The real mystery was the other missing Basilisk. What had happened to II?

Hagrid stopped and looked at the desk across the room from the cells. It was littered with open books and loose papers. Among them was also a stack of pictures, still kept in a closed bin. They seemed suspiciously dust-free.

Vee looked in the other three cells. Number four, a yellow basilisk, and the one closest in age to Vee was looking thinner than one of the Hogwarts Broomsticks, and number three wasn’t much better. Her red skin was tight against her small bones.

“Vee, yeh might want ter see this,” Hagrid said, grabbing a few of the books and shoving them in a few of his many, many pockets.

“Hagrid, you might want to see this,” Vee said in perfect unison with the enormous man.

Hagrid turned around first and saw what Vee had spotted. Her siblings were still locked up! As if on instinct, he went to free III and IV. The bars were like butter when faced with the raw strength that this man could produce. Within moments, her siblings were free.

Vee went in to embrace her sisters, but Hagrid stopped her. “Yeh can embrace each other later. Let’s get out of here first,” He said quickly, “Go ahead o' me, yeh can climb faster ‘n me.”

Vee followed his orders and transformed into a human form to climb the stairs faster. She sprinted up the stairs as fast as she could. Before she knew it, she had cleared all of those stairs like it was nothing. It must have taken a while, because it was completely dark outside, as though the sun had set three hours prior. (Glancing at her watch, that was pretty close to the truth, it had set two hours and forty-five minutes prior.)

She couldn’t believe it, III and IV were still alive!

Soon, Hagrid burst through the doorway, the remaining brick shattering on contact with his immense figure.

He set III and IV, they slithered toward Vee, who transformed from her human form back to her serpentine form.

They both embraced her in a hug. “Thank you, number V,” IV said.

“You’re welcome, Ivy,” Vee said, giving her sister a name, “And you too, Trey,”

Her siblings had names now, III was now Trey, and IV was now Ivy.

A man from the Human Realm had helped Vee with something she had never dared to do alone. For that, she was eternally grateful. If Hagrid ever needed help, Vee decided that she would be right there for him.

The post arrived a bit later than usual that day, but Hermione quickly found out why, about twice the usual amount of owls had flown in today, and half of them seemed to be coming straight for her. They dropped letter after letter after letter in front of her.

Hermione opened one of them, inside was a letter that seemed to be made of clippings from the Daily Prophet , rather than being handwritten.

You are a WickEd giRL. HaRRy PottEr desErves BetteR. gO Back wherE you cAME from mUggle.

“what?” Hermione asked, dumbfounded.

She opened another, and another, they all had similar messages.

HaRrY poTter cAn Do MuCh bEtTEr than ThE liKes of yOu

You dEseRve TO be bOilEd iN FrOg SPawn yOu BitCh

iF yOurE gOinG to BE a CoMMon wHorE, mAybE cHoOse tO fUck wiTH bOys wHo aReNT fAmOUs

HarRy pOtTEr hAs gOne ThrOugH eNougH, sTop tOyiNg wITh hiM yOu sLUT

“They’re all like it!” Hermione cried desperately.

“Ouch!” She yelped after opening another. Her hands were covered in a yellow-green liquid that smelled like gasoline and stung like hand sanitizer on an open wound. Her hands began to erupt into large yellow boils.

“Undiluted Bubotuber pus!” Ron shouted, recognizing it immediately.

Hermione tried to rub the tears out of her eyes with a napkin, but her hands were so thickly covered in yellow sores that she looked like she had a pair of thick, knobby leather gloves on.

“You’d better get to the Hospital Wing,” Harry advised, “Amity, you’re in the healing track, right?” Amity nodded, “Go with her to make sure it doesn’t get too much worse.”

Hermione got up and started to run out of the Great Hall. Amity followed her closely.

“Hermione, are you okay?” Amity asked as they walked to the Hospital Wing.

“Yeah,” Hermione lied as she failed to wipe the tears from her eyes again. “I’m fine,”

Amity seemed to not buy it for a second, but it did shut her up.

The boils did not seem to want to stop getting bigger, at this rate they were going to be bigger than her head by the time they reached the Hospital Wing.

She wasn’t far off with that guess, as it turns out. Her hands were only barely smaller than her head.

“What caused this?” Madam Pomfrey immediately interrogated, forcing her into the nearest bed.

“Bubotuber pus,” Hermione said, “I don’t think it was diluted in anything.”

“That’ll do it,” She said, grabbing a vial of a green liquid, “Good thing you came here quick, if it’s not treated quickly, Bubotuber pus can cause permanent damage and scarring, especially if it’s pure.”

“Is there any way I can help, Madam Pomfrey?” Amity asked in an extremely polite tone of voice.

“I’m sorry, but no,” She said, “I’m still not familiar enough with Demon Realm healing to trust it completely, especially when it comes to students. Bubotuber pus is very dangerous, if it’s treated improperly, the affected area can very quickly become dislodged, leaving a gaping hole in the body. I’ve seen what comes of people hit with it in unfortunate spots. I don’t think I reconstructed a single one of those faces to look the same as they did before, and I think only one of them had all of their facial organs keep working, all the rest went blind permanently, or deaf, or couldn’t smell, or-”

“I get it,” Amity cut off, “This stuff is dangerous. But she’s going to be okay, right?”

“Yes, but she won’t heal any faster if you keep pestering me,” Madam Pomfrey snapped. “Go back to breakfast, she should be out before lunch.”

“Amity, I’ll be fine,” Hermine assured, “Go back to breakfast, don’t miss class on my account. Madam Pomfrey has my complete confidence.”

Pressure from both of them made Amity finally drag herself out of the Hospital Wing, leaving Hermione and Madam Pomfrey alone.

“How did this happen?” Madam Pomfrey inquired, “What were you doing around this stuff? I thought you were smarter than this, Granger,”

“I didn’t mean to get it on me,” Hermione confessed, “I was opening my mail, and it splattered out of the envelope,”

“Why would Bubotuber pus be in your mail?” She asked reasonably.

“Hate mail,” Hermione supposed, “I got a bunch of other stuff too, ‘you deserve to be boiled in frog spawn’, ‘you are a wicked girl’, ‘you are nothing but a common slut’, and so on.”

“Is this because of that article that came out recently?” Madam Pomfrey asked.

“That would be the most logical conclusion,” Hermione said.

“Well, I want you to know that I don’t think that it was very honest journalism,” Madam Pomfrey assured, “I know you, and you aren’t the type of girl to do that sort of thing to the boys around you,”

The next few hours passed painfully slowly, but pass they did. Near the end of her second class, Care of Magical Creatures, Madam Pomfrey finally let Hermione out of the Hospital Wing. Her hands were bandaged so much that she still couldn’t use them.

Hermione raced outside to meet Harry and Ron for class.

“What’ve yeh done ter your hands, Hermione?” Hagrid asked when she arrived, his face full of worry.

Hermione told him about the hate mail and bubotuber puss.

“Ahh, don’ worry,” Hagrid reassured, “I got some o’ those letters too yeh know. After Rita Skeeter wrote abou’ me mum. ‘Yeh’re a monster an’ yeh should be put down’, ‘Yer mother killed innocent people an’ if you had any decency you’d kill yerself,’”

“No!” Hermione shouted, shocked.

“Yeah,” said Hagrid, heaving crates full of nifflers toward his cabin. “They’re jus’ nutters, Hermione. Don’ open ‘em if yeh get any more. Chuck ‘em straigh’ in the fire.”

The mail continued for several days. Hermione followed Hagrid’s advice. But more than a few of them were Howlers, which would explode at the Gryffindor table, shrieking insults for the entire hall to hear. Hermione was getting really sick of it all, it was starting to really hurt.

“It’ll die down,” Harry, Ron, Amity, and the others kept telling her, “If we just ignore it, people will get bored and move on,”

“I want to know how she’s listening in on private conversations if she’s banned from the grounds!” Hermione asked, infuriated.

She stayed behind in her next Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson, maybe Professor Moody had an answer.

“Well, she’s not using an invisibility cloak, I would have seen that,” Moody told her, “But there are lots of other ways you could eavesdrop on someone. Ways even my eye can’t catch.”

“Like what?” Hermione asked, her curiosity spiking.

“Oh, she could be using some sort of an eavesdropping charm, but those stay on one place, not person, so how would she have known where to place it to hear your conversation?”

“Couldn’t she have just placed one everywhere?” Hermione thought.

“Not likely,” Moody answered quickly, “It would take a lot of concentration to keep all that up. And even if she did, she would be so overwhelmed by the amount of things she would be hearing that there would be no way she could pick out yours specifically. Especially since it was probably a quiet talk.”

“What else?” Hermione asked.

“She could be using Polyjuice potion, pretending to be someone else,” Moody thought, his hand drifting to his hip-flask, “but that’s probably not it either.”

“Polyjuice potion is a real pain to make,” Hermione recalled, “And terrible if you get it wrong,”

“Exactly,” Moody replied, “Wait, how do you know about Polyjuice Potion? That’s N.E.W.T. level.”

“I read about it once,” Hermione covered. Of course, she had really done a lot more than just read about it, she had made it for Harry, Ron, and herself back when they were in their second year in order to sneak into they Slytherin common room.

“Thank you, professor,” Hermione stated, then ran to rejoin Ron and Harry.

“Well, Rita Skeeter’s definitely not using an invisibility cloak,” she told her friends through panted breaths. “Moody didn’t see her anywhere near the lake at all at the Second Task.”

“Hermione,” Ron asked, “Is there any point in telling you to drop this?”

“Nope!” Hermione said stubbornly, “I want to know how she heard me talking to Viktor! And how she found out about Hagrid’s mum!”

“Maybe she had you bugged,” Harry offered.

“Bugged?” Ron asked, “What, like, put fleas on her or something?”

Harry began to explain hidden microphones and the like.

Hermione sighed, “Aren’t you two ever going to read Hogwarts: A History ?”

“What’s the point?” Ron asked, “You know it by heart, we can always just ask you,”

"Because muggle technology, electricity, phones, computers, that stuff, it all goes haywire around Hogwarts, there’s too much magic in the air. Rita must be using magic to eavesdrop, she must be… if I could just find out how… ooh, if it’s illegal, I’ll have her!”

“Do we have to start making a vendetta against Skeeter now too?” Ron asked, “Isn’t spew enough?”

“Firstly, it’s S.P.E.W, not spew,” Hermione corrected, “And secondly, no, I’m going to do this myself.”

She stormed off, it was time to check her favorite place in the entire castle, the library.

Chapter Text

“Hunter… Hunter… Won’t you help out your poor Uncle?” A voice clearly said, “Please, Hunter, help me… help your dear, helpless Uncle…”

No one around Hunter seemed to react to the all-too-familiar voice calling for him. Luz and Amity kept embracing each other on the couch. Willow kept snuggling next to him. Gus and Hermione continued comparing each other’s realms. Harry and Ron continued to play exploding snap at a nearby table.

“Guys?” Hunter asked, “Did you hear that?”

All of his friends gave him the same confused look.

“Hear what?” Luz asked.

“I didn’t hear anything,” Gus admitted.

“Hunter, are you okay?” Willow asked. Hunter’s hands were starting to shake. That voice, it couldn’t be…

“What did you hear, Hunter?” Amity asked.

“Bel-” Hunter’s voice stopped, the word got caught in his throat. Nothing came out.

“B-” Hunter tried again, to similar failure.

“Belos?” Luz filled in.

“Y-yes,” Hunter choked.

Willow held his hands softly, reminding him that his friends, and girlfriend, were still there and that they cared about him.

Harry looked at Hunter as though he knew exactly what he was going through.

“Hunter, I have an unfortunate amount of experience when it comes to hearing voices no one else can,” Harry consoled, “Do you want to talk to me about it?”

Hunter nodded, and Harry got over to him and sat next to him.

“What did he say? Do you think it was directed at you, or was it just a general thing?” Harry asked.

“He, he asked me for help. Specifically,” Hunter got out,

“Well, remember,” Harry said, “We’re all here for you. Even if he comes back, you’re safe.”

“Yeah, I-I know,” Hunter said.

Harry stayed right there for Hunter, even though neither of them said a single thing. Slowly, the afternoon drew into the evening, which then drew into the night.

“Harry, you need to come back to Hogwarts with Ron and I,” Hermione nagged, “Curfew is soon, and Filch’ll have our heads if we’re late.”

Harry sighed, then got up, and joined his human companions.

“Hunter,” said Harry, “If you ever need someone to talk to about voices in your head, just remember that I get them too, I can relate. You know where to find me.”

And with that, the three British Humans returned to the castle for the night.

Soon, Willow, Amity, and Gus all had to go back home before their fathers got worried. Vee and Luz departed for their room, leaving just King and Hunter in the living room.

“Hey, you still seem kinda shook,” King noted, “Is this still about the voice?”

“That’s-!” Hunter started, his voice much too loud, so he quieted himself, “None of your business.”

“So it’s a yes!” King teased.

“I should’ve dropped you in the Boiling Sea when I had the chance,” Hunter joked.

“If you’d done that, neither of us would be here, Eda would’ve killed you immediately,” King stated.

That was a fair point.

“I’m…” Hunter said softly, “I’m going to bed,” He got up and went upstairs to his room. Hunter couldn’t begin to verbalize just how grateful he was to Eda for letting him stay with her for as long as he needed. It had started as a temporary thing, but after eighteen months, Hunter was starting to think it might just last until he finally got a home with just him and Willow, but that was still a long way away.

Of course, he couldn’t sleep. The horrible, manipulative voice that had pretended to care for Hunter was the only thing on his mind.

Deciding that he had had enough insomnia for now, he got up and grabbed Waffle.

“Hey buddy,” He whispered to the blue jay, “I just need to see something, just to be safe,”

Waffle, reading his mind, went into staff form. Hunter opened the window in his room, no sense in trying the front door, Hooty would wake the entire house, literally.

He slowly climbed out of his window and glanced at the stars above. One constellation, Gemini, the twins, was shining brightly. He stepped one leg over the staff and kicked off from the roof. The thrill of the chilly May air in his hair was impossible to match, but Hunter couldn’t focus on that, the only thing his mind could focus on was that haunting voice, begging for his help.

He eventually landed at the bridge connecting the castle to the land surrounding it. Hunter took one step onto the bridge and it collapsed, nearly taking him with it!

The rusted metal clearly was not suitable for use anymore. Hunter watched as the steel, once pristine and shiny, now rusted away and collapsed from just him placing a single foot on it.

Re-mounting Waffle, Hunter flew to the other side of the bridge, where the reinforced concrete was much less likely to be unstable after less than two years.

Hunter carefully made his way to the throne room, there was a specific, hidden room that he wanted to check. Faded graffiti and the occasional small animal lined his vision as Hinter took the familiar path from the front gates to the throne room.

Finally reaching the throne room, Hunter made his way to the secret door, which was hidden from prying eyes. It was the one room in the entire castle that Belos had directly told Hunter not to enter, and Hunter was about to enter it.

The first thing he noticed about the forbidden room was the smell, a pungent odor of rot and decay oozed from the room. Hunter had to cover his nose to even barely tolerate the chamber.

The next thing he noticed was that it had several pools of a red liquid, half of which had bones covered in green, rotting flesh sticking out of them. Hunter thought he was going to be sick from seeing, and smelling, that.

Before he could fully process the rest of the hidden laboratory, he saw an arm twitch in one of the pools. Curious, Hunter came closer to that one.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” A voice behind him said. It was eerily familiar, eerily similar to his own.

Hunter turned around and nearly fell back in shock. It was like looking in a strange mirror. It was his face staring back at him, a hundred times over. The same magenta eyes, the same blond hair with the one hair noodle in front that Belos forced Hunter to have.

“Who-?” Hunter started, before being interrupted by one of the ghosts.

“I am Caleb Wittebane,” The ghost in front introduced, “And those you see behind me are the former Grimwalkers.”

Hunter was shocked, to say the least, but the ghost kept talking.

“Whenever one of us finally realized the depravity of Philip’s ideals, we rebelled. Every single Grimwalker eventually rebelled against him. But you, Hunter, you are the only one to have survived.”

“By Philip, do you mean-?” Hunter began to ask, before being interrupted again. Seriously? I’m a clone of someone with these manners? Hunter thought.

“Yes, you call him Belos,” Caleb explained, “He has gone by many names in his centuries of life. He needed some way to make inconspicuous on how he was emperor for three hundred years. Before he was Belos, he was Oberon, before that, Pupa. And so on.”

“Well, thank you,” Hunter said, “This has given me… some peace of mind. Belos isn’t back… right?”

“Not as far as any of us know,” one of the grimwalkers said, he had a scar much like Hunter’s that went across both of his eyes, which seemed to have been gouged out.

Hunter, not wanting to bear the putrid scent of the Grimwalker room anymore, left to go back to the Owl house before anyone noticed his absence.

When Hunter left and the ghosts dissipated, a distinctive crack could be heard coming from the nearest vat. The arm that was sticking out had gone from fully extended to bent at a forty-five degree angle.

Normally, since it was May, Harry would be spending his time preparing for the last quidditch match of the season. This year, however, it was the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament that Harry needed to prepare for. Unfortunately, he still didn’t know what that would entail. Finally, in the last week of May, Professor McGonagall told him to go to the Quidditch pitch at nine o’clock on the night of the twenty-fourth.

And so, at eight-thirty that night, Harry made his way out of Gryffindor Tower and went downstairs. As he crossed the entrance hall, Cedric came up from the Hufflepuff common room and joined him.

“What d’you reckon it’ll be?” Cedric asked Harry as they went together toward the field, “Fleur keeps going on about underground tunnels, she reckons we’ve got to find treasure.”

“That wouldn’t be too bad,” Harry noted, thinking he could just ask Hagrid if he could borrow a niffler.

They walked through the dark lawn toward the Quidditch pitch, Harry soon saw the portal door open, and Luz walked out of it. He also saw Fleur and Krum coming from their respective directions as well.

“What have they done to the field?” Cedric asked indignantly, stopping dead in his tracks.

The Quidditch pitch was no longer smooth and flat. It looked like someone had been building low, flat, green walls all over it, twisting and criss-crossing in every direction.

“They’re hedges!” Luz noted, examining one of them closely.

“Hello there!” A cheery voice called. Ludo Bagman was standing in the middle of the field. The five champions soon made their way over to him. 

“Well, what d’you think?” Bagman asked in a cheery tone as the champions climbed over one last hedge to get to him. “Growing nicely, aren’t they? Give them a month, and Hagrid’ll have them twenty feet high. Don’t worry,” He added, spotting the less-than-happy faces on Harry and Cedric, “You’ll have your Quidditch pitch back to normal once the task is over! Now, I imagine you can guess what we’re making here?”

No one spoke for a moment until Krum finally answered. “Maze,” he grunted.

“Yes!” Bagman exclaimed, “A maze. The third task is really straightforward. The Triwizard Cup will be placed in the center of the maze. The First champion to touch it will receive full marks, sixty points. Scores will then be distributed based on how far everyone else is from the cup when the winner gets it. The second closest gets fifty points, third gets forty, fourth gets thirty, and fifth gets twenty points. Any questions?”

“We simply ‘ave to get through the maze?” Fleur asked.

“Well, there will be obstacles, of course.” Bagman explained, “Hagrid is providing several creatures, then there will be spells that must be broken, all that sort of stuff. Should be fun, eh?”

Harry, knowing far too well what kind of creatures Hagrid might provide, thought it very unlikely that it would be any fun. However, he nodded politely with the rest of the champions.

“Very well, if you haven’t got any questions, we’ll go back up to the castle, it’s a bit chilly,” Bagman said.

Bagman hurried to join Harry as he walked quickly back to the castle. Just as Harry was getting the feeling that Bagman was about to offer to help him again, Krum tapped on his shoulder.

“Could I haff a word?” Krum asked.

“Sure,” Harry said, a bit surprised.

“Vill you walk with me?”

“Err, okay,” Harry said curiously.

Instead of going toward the Durmstrang ship, Krum led Harry towards the forest, past the Beauxbatons carriage and Hagrid’s hut.

“What’re we going this way for?” Harry asked.

“I don’t vant to be overheard,” Krum said shortly.

He finally stopped when they reached an empty clearing by the forest.

“I vant to know,” He said, glowering, “What is there between you and Hermione?”

Harry, who expected something much more serious than teenaged romance from someone who was as secretive as Krum, stared up in amazement.

“Nothing,” he said. But Krum continued to glower at him, and Harry, somehow struck anew by how tall Krum was, elaborated, “We’re friends. She’s not my girlfriend and she never has been. It’s just that Skeeter woman making things up.”

“Hermione talks about you very often,” Krum said, looking at Harry very suspiciously.

“Yeah, because we’re friends.” Harry spat back.

Harry couldn’t believe that he was having this conversation with Viktor Krum, the famous international Quidditch player. It was as though the eighteen-year-old Krum thought he, Harry, was an equal, a real rival.

“You haff never… You haff not…”

“Nope,” Harry said very firmly.

Krum looked slightly happier, which, considering how unexpressive he was, probably meant that he was ecstatic. “You fly very well. I vos watching you at the first task.”

“Thanks,” Harry said, grinning widely, suddenly feeling a bit taller himself. “I saw you at the World Cup. The Wronski Feint, you really-”

Harry lost his train of thought, he saw something move in the trees behind Krum. Harry, having some experience with what kind of creatures called the forest home, instinctively grabbed Krum’s arm and pulled him around.

“Vot is it?”

Harry shook his head, staring at the place where he’d seen movement. He grabbed his wand from his robes.

A man staggered out from behind a rather tall oak tree. For a moment, Harry didn’t recognize him, then he realized who it was… Barty Crouch.

He looked as though he had been traveling for days. The knees of his robes were ripped and bloody; his was face scratched; he was unshaven and gray with exhaustion. His strange appearance, however, was nothing compared to how he was behaving. Muttering and gesticulating, Mr. Crouch seemed to be talking to someone he alone could see.

“Vosn’t he a judge?” Krum asked, “Isn’t he with your Ministry?”

Harry nodded. With hesitation, he began to walk towards Mr. Crouch, who did not seem to notice him, rather he continued talking to a nearby tree. “...and when you’ve done that, Weatherby, send an owl to Dumbledore confirming the number of Durmstrang students who will be attending the tournament, Karkaroff has just sent word there will be twenty…”

“Mister Crouch?” Harry said cautiously.

“...and then send another owl to Madame Maxime, because she might want to up the students she’s bringing, now that Karkaroff’s mad it a round twenty… do that, Weatherby, will you?” Mr. Crouch’s eyes were bulging. He stood at the tree. Then he staggered sideways and fell to his knees.

“Mister Crouch!” Harry said loudly, “Are you alright?”

Harry knew the answer to that question. Crouch’s eyes were rolling in his head, he was almost limp in Harry’s arms.

“You should probably go get some help,” Harry told Krum.

“Dumbledore!” Crouch gasped. He reached out and seized a handful of Harry’s robes, though his eyes were staring way over Harry’s head. “I need… see… Dumbledore…”

“Okay,” Harry said, “If you get up, we can go get hi-”

“I’ve done… stupid… thing…” Mr. Crouch muttered. He looked like he had gone completely mad, luckily, Harry managed to free himself from Crouch’s grasp.

“You stay here, I’ll go get- Luz?” Harry said, shocked to see the Hexside champion running towards them.

“I heard noise, is everyone okay?” She asked quickly.

“I need to find Dumbledore,” Harry said, “You two stay here with Mister Crouch.”

Harry sprinted as fast as he could towards the castle, which was deserted. Five minutes later, he was hurtling toward where he remembered Dumbledore’s office to be.

“Sher-sherbet lemon!” He said breathlessly.

That was the password to his office, or, at least, it had been two years ago. The password had evidently been changed.

“Move!” Harry shouted fruitlessly at it.

Harry wondered where else Dumbledore could be. Perhaps the staff room? He started running as fast as he could toward the staircase-

“POTTER!!”

Harry skidded to a halt as Snape’s voice snapped at him.

What are you doing here, Potter?”

“I need to see Professor Dumbledore!” Harry yelled, “It’s Mister Crouch, he’s in the forest, he’s talking mad-”

“What on earth are you talking about?” Snape snapped.

“Mister Crouch! From the Ministry! He’s ill or something, he wants to see Dumbledore!” Harry shouted.

“I heard my name?” A wise, old voice said.

“Professor Dumbledore!” Harry said, relieved beyond belief, “It’s Mr. Crouch, he’s in the forest, he wants to speak with you!”

Luckily, Dumbledore didn’t question it, instead asking Harry to lead the way.

“What did Mr. Crouch say?” Dumbledore asked as they swiftly walked down the marble staircase.

“Said he wants to warn you… said he’s done something terrible.” Harry explained, “He’s not acting normally. He doesn’t seem to know where he is. He keeps talking like Percy is there, then he changes and begs to see you. I left him with Viktor Krum and Luz Noceda.”

“You did?” Dumbledore asked sharply, “Do you know if anyone else saw him?”

“No,” Harry said, “Krum and I were talking, Mr. Bagman had just shown us the third task, and we stayed behind, and then we saw Mr. Crouch come from the forest, the Luz came running when she heard Crouch’s panicked yelling.”

“Where are they?” Dumbledore asked as they passed the Beauxbatons carriage.

“Over here,” said Harry, moving to where they had been. He couldn’t hear Crouch’s voice anymore, but he knew where they had been; it hadn’t been much past the Beauxbatons carriage, somewhere around here.”

“Viktor?” Harry shouted, “Luz?”

No response.

“They were here,” Harry said, “They were around here somewhere.”

“ Lumos ” Dumbledore said, lighting his wand.

Its narrow beam of traveled from trunk to trunk, until it landed on a pair of feet.

Harry and Dumbledore hurried forward. Krum was sprawled on the forest floor, Luz was next to her. They both seemed to be unconscious. There was no sign of Crouch at all. Dumbledore lifted one eyelid of Krum’s.

“Stunned,” He said softly, his half-moon glasses glittered in the wandlight.

“Should I get someone?” Asked Harry, “Madam Pomfrey?”

“No,” Dumbledore said, “Stay here.”

He raised his wand and lifted it in the direction of Hagrid’s cabin. Harry saw something silvery dart out of it and streak away. Dumbledore bent over the two champions and muttered “ Renneveate ” to them both.

They both opened their eyes but seemed rather dazed.

“He attacked me!” Krum muttered, putting a hand on his head, “The old madman attacked me! I vos looking to see vare Potter had gone and he attacked me from behind!”

“No,” Luz said, “It wasn’t Crouch. I don’t know who it was, but Crouch was lying helplessly on the ground, and a red light seemed to come from over there,” She pointed near the cabin. “Next thing I know, I’m on the ground twenty feet away.”

Hagrid came running, Fang right at his heels.

“Hagrid,” Dumbledore said urgently, “I need you to fetch Professor Karkaroff and Principal Bump, once you’ve done that, I need you to alert Professor Moody-”

“No need, Dumbledore,” said a wheezy growl. “Would’ve been here sooner if it weren’t for my damn leg,”

“I don’t know where Barty Crouch went,” Dumbledore admitted, “But it is essential that we find him,”

“On it,” Moody said, limping away into the forest.

Neither Dumbledore nor Harry spoke again until Hagrid returned with a disgruntled-looking Karkaroff and an annoyed Bump.

“What is this?” Karkaroff cried out upon seeing Krum still on the ground.

“I vos attacked,” Krum said, sitting up and rubbing his head, “Mr. Crouch or votever his name was…”

“It wasn’t Crouch!” Luz reminded, “How could you blame this attack on such a poor, defenseless man?”

“Treachery!” Karkaroff shouted, “This is a plot! You and your Ministry of Magic have lured me under false pretenses. This is not an equal competition! First, you sneak Potter in as a second champion! Now one of your Ministry friends tries to pull my champion out of service! You know what? Here’s what I think of your ‘equal competition’!”

Karkaroff spat at Dumbledore’s feet. In an instant, he was being pinned against a tree, his feet dangling a full meter off the ground.

“Apologize,” Hagrid snarled, “Or else,” Hagrid’s massive fist was right at Karkaroff’s throat.

“Hagrid, no!” Dumbledore shouted.

Hagrid begrudgingly let go of Karkaroff, letting him fall to the ground.

“Kindly escort Harry to the castle, please,” Dumbledore said to Hagrid. “And Harry,” Dumbledore said, turning his attention to the youngest person present, “When you get back to Gryffindor tower, I want you to stay there, any owls you might want to send, anything you want to do, it can wait until morning.”

Hagrid angrily marched with Harry back to the castle. He wasn’t in a good mood and kept complaining about foreigners the entire time, so Harry wasn’t very upset when they had to part ways at the portrait of the Fat Lady. Harry clambered through the portrait hole and into the common room. He hurried for the corner that Ron and Hermione were sitting in, wanting to tell them every detail.

Chapter Text

“He's... a better version of an old friend. But, thanks to you, I'll have to make another one.” Belos chided as he morphed from appearing like Philip to looking like the Emperor everyone knew him as.

“But... why? Why go through all this?” Luz begged.

“I'll do anything to save humanity from evil.” the monster answered plainly, grabbing a Golden Guard mask off the ground.

“No,” Luz stated, shaking her head, “You’re evil”

“Well,” Belos shrugged, dropping the mask to his feet, “Can’t reason with crazy,”

In a flash, Belos’ arm transformed into abomination-like slime, shaping his hand into a scythe. The blade came directly through her chest. Hunter hadn’t saved her.

Luz could feel herself collapsing.

“And I thought that maybe we could have gotten along,” Belos said over her dying body, “Oh well, I suppose that’s what I get for thinking a heretic like you could ever amount to anything,”

Luz opened her eyes. She was in her bedroom. She glanced at the clock, it was four-thirty in the morning.

This was the third night in a row where she had had visions of that night in her head. The third night in a row where she woke up in a cold sweat and was too exhausted to get up. The third night in a row where Luz spent half the night staring at the ceiling, praying that her eyes would shut. The nightmare always went the same way, it was just like how it had really gone, but Hunter never saved her.

They never shut, because why would they? By the time her alarm went off that morning, Luz was almost paralyzed by fatigue, the thing blasted in her ears for what felt like hours before she could finally muster the energy to move her hand a few feet to turn it off. There was no way she was going to school today, not after the third night of nightmare-induced insomnia.

A few minutes later, Luz heard a knock on the door.

“Luz?” It was Eda’s voice, “Kiddo, trust me, I get not wanting to go to school, but this seems unlike you. Is everything alright?”

Luz groaned with fatigue. It must’ve been heard through the door, because Eda quickly responded, “Do you really think you can fake being sick or tired so you can play hooky?”

Eda opened the door.

“Oh,” was all that escaped her mouth. Luz understood why, she probably looked almost as shitty as she felt.

Eda swiftly moved to Luz’s bedside. “What’s wrong, kid?” asked the concerned Owl Lady.

“Couldn’t sleep…” Luz softly moaned.

“Why not?”

“...nightmare…” Luz muttered.

“Well, you’re safe here Luz,” Eda whispered, “Try to get some sleep, you look like you really need it,”

And with that, Eda left her.

Luz tried to sleep, but it didn’t go well, as to be expected. After what felt like forever, she gave up and dragged herself out of bed. There was someone she knew who had experience with bad dreams, so she was going to find them.

Harry’s eyes were already heavy as he climbed the ladder into Professor Trelawney’s classroom. He, Ron, and Hermione had been practicing stunning spells on each other all morning. The heavy perfume wasn’t helping. Nor was the light breeze. Almost as soon as he took a seat, his eyelids drooped…

He was riding on an eagle owl, soaring through the clear blue sky in wonderful sunlight. He was flying directly towards an old, vine-draped house. The owl flew lower and lower toward the house, eventually, it flew in through a dark window on the top story of the house. It flew further and further inside the house, eventually leading Harry to a gloomy-looking room at the end of a seemingly endless hallway. Harry leaped off the back of the owl. He was now watching as it fluttered across the room into a chair with its back to Harry. There were two dark shapes on the floor beside the chair.

One was a huge snake, and the other was a short and balding man. He was wheezing and sobbing on the rug.

“You are in luck, Wormtail,” said a cold, high-pitched voice from the depths of the chair the owl had fluttered into. “You are very fortunate indeed. Your blunder has not ruined everything. He is dead.”

“Nagini,” The voice continued, “You are out of luck. I will not be feeding Wormtail to you after all. But never mind that, there is still Harry Potter.”

The snake hissed, and Harry noticed its tongue fluttering.

“Now, Wormtail. Perhaps you need a little reminder why I will not tolerate another blunder from you.”

“My Lord,” The voice begged, “Please… no… I beg of you…”

The tip of a wand emerged from the chair. It was pointed directly at Wormtail. “ Crucio, ” said the cruel voice.

Wormtail screamed as though every nerve in his body was on fire, the screaming filled Harry’s ears as the scar on his forehead seared with pain; he was yelling too, Voldemort would hear him, would know he was there…

“Harry! Harry! ”

Harry opened his eyes. He was lying on the floor of Professor Trelawney’s classroom. His scar was burning so badly that his eyes were watering. The entire class was standing around him, and Ron was kneeling next to him, looking terrified.

“You alright?” He asked.

“Of course, he isn’t!” exclaimed Professor Trelawney, looking far too excited. “What was it, Potter? A premonition? An apparition? What did you see?”

“Nothing” Harry lied, sitting up. He couldn’t stop himself from looking around, into the shadows behind him. Voldemort’s voice had sounded so close…

“You were clutching your scar!” Professor Trelawney said, “You were rolling on the floor, clutching your scar! Come on now, Potter, I have experience in these matters!”

“I need to go to the hospital wing, I think,” He said, “Bad headache,”

“My dear, you were undoubtedly stimulated by the extraordinary clairvoyant vibrations of my room!” Trelawney exclaimed, “If you leave now, you may lose the opportunity to see-”

“The only thing I want to see is a headache cure,” Harry snapped as he grabbed his bag and headed for the trapdoor.
Harry had no real intention to go to the Hospital Wing,. Sirius had told him what to do if his scar acted up again, so Harry planned to follow that advice. He was going to go find Dumbledore.

He started sprinting toward the stone gargoyle that guarded the entrance to Dumbledore’s office. He was almost there when…

“Ow!” someone yelled, “Watch where you’re going!”

Harry looked around, he had accidentally bumped into Luz, who was now on the ground. How hard did I hit her? Harry wondered. She had heavy bags under her eyes, and her hair was a mess. She looked worse than Hermione had during final exams last year.

“Oh, Harry! You’re just who I’m looking for!” She realized, dusting off her knees and starting to stand, which was about as successful as Neville’s attempts in potions.

“Woah,” She said as her legs wobbled so much she fell again, “You know what? I think I’ll stay on the ground for a while. Anyway, Harry, can I talk with you?”

“Can it wait?” Harry stapped angrily, “I need to see Dumbledore,”

“Harry, you said that if any of us had bad dreams, or heard voices, to talk to you,” Luz said, “So I took that advice,”

“Look, can it wait? I really need to see Dumbledore,” Harry insisted.

“Why do you need to see him?”

“Same reason you need to see me,” Harry admitted under his breath.

“Then maybe I can come with you!” Luz exclaimed.

“Err,” Harry paused, he couldn’t think of a way to talk her out of it, especially one that would work on someone as stubborn as Luz.

“Sure, I guess,” Harry finally said.

Luz yawned, “Could you help me up?”

Harry grabbed her arm and pulled her off of the floor, “Need me to help balance you?”

Luz nodded. So Harry let her lean on him.

They finally reached the stone gargoyle, and that was when Harry realized he still didn’t know the password.

“Sherbet Lemon?” He tried tentatively.

Unsurprisingly, the gargoyle did not move.

“Okay…” Harry said, trying to think of what else it could be, “Pear drop, err… Liquorice Wand, Fizzing Whizzbee, Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum,”

“Harry, what in the world are you trying to do?” Luz asked.

“Trying to guess the password,” He said.

“And you think it’s going to be a candy?”

“Well, it was ‘Sherbet Lemon’ two years ago,” He admitted.

“Then try Muggle candies,” Luz said plainly, “Hershey’s Chocolate, Gushers, Butterfinger, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Almond Joy, Jolly Ranchers-”

The gargoyle practically leaped out of place, allowing the two champions entrance.

“Jolly Ranchers?” Luz muttered, “Good to know,”

Harry walked to the foot of a stone spiral staircase. “Here, Luz, you should take the railing, not me.” He offered, swapping sides with her.

But instead of actually having to climb the stairs, they brought them up like a set of escalators, eventually bringing them up to a polished oak door with a brass door-knocker.

Harry could hear voices coming from inside the office, so he placed his ear up against the door to eavesdrop.

“Dumbledore, I’m afraid I don’t see the connection, I don’t see it at all!” said the voice of the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, “Ludo says that Bertha’s perfectly capable of getting herself lost. I agree we would have expected to have found her by no, but all the same, we’ve no evidence of foul play, Dumbledore, none at all. As for her disappearance being linked to Barty Crouch’s!”

“And just what do you think happened to Barty Crouch, Minister?” Moody’s growling voice pestered.

“I see two possibilities, Alastor,” said Fudge, “Either Crouch has finally cracked - which I’m sure you’ll agree is more than likely, given his personal history - lost his mind, and gone wandering off somewhere-”

“He must have wandered rather quickly if that is to be the case,” Dumbledore said calmly.

“Or else… well…” Fudge sounded embarrassed, “Well, I’ll reserve judgment until after I’ve seen the place where he was found. Which was just past the Beauxbatons carriage, correct? Dumbledore, do you know what kind of woman their Headmistress is?”

“A very capable one,” Dumbledore quietly replied, “And an excellent dancer to boot,”

“Dumbledore, come on!” Fudge irately insisted, “Don’t you think you’re a little biased in her favor thanks to that oaf you hired for a groundskeeper? They aren’t all harmless, if, that is, you consider Hagrid harmless, with that monster obsession he’s got,”

“I no more suspect Madame Maxime than I do Hagrid,” said Dumbledore, still very calm, “I think it is possible you might be prejudiced against them, Cornelius.”

“Can we wrap this up?” Moody growled.

“Yes, let’s go finish this down on the grounds,” Fudge said impatiently.

“No, that’s not it,” Moody said, “It’s just that Potter and Noceda seem to want a word with you, Dumbledore. They’re just outside the door,”

Chapter Text

The office door opened.

“Hello, Harry. Hello, Luz” Beamed Dumbledore,clad in a large pink, blue, and white robe. It was flowing marvelously, despite them being inside, and no windows being open. He’s using magic to make his robes flow like that, Harry figured. Of course, he is .

Harry walked inside, he had only been in Dumbledore’s office once before; it was a very large and beautiful circular room, lined with pictures of the previous heads of Hogwarts, all of whom were fast asleep.

Cornelius Fudge was standing beside Dumbledore’s desk, wearing his usual pinstripe cloak and lime-green bowler hat.

“Harry!” Fudge cried jovially, “How are you?”

“Fine,” Harry lied.

“We were just talking about the night when Mr. Crouch turned up by the woods,” Fudge explained, “It was you two who found him, correct?”

“Yes,” Luz said, “But Krum was there too,”

“And I didn’t see Madame Maxime anywhere,” Harry added, thinking it pointless to try to pretend he hadn’t overheard what they had been saying, “And she’d have her work cut out for her if she wanted to hide anywhere,”

“Yes, well,” Fudge said, looking embarrassed, “We’re about to go for a short walk in the grounds, if you’ll excuse us… perhaps you two should head back to your classes.”

“We wanted to talk to you, Professor,” Harry said quickly

“Wait for me here,” Dumbledore said, “Our examination of the grounds will not take long,”

They hiked out the door silently, leaving Luz and Harry alone in the room.

“Ohmygosh is that a phoenix!?!?” Luz blurted as soon as the door closed, she clearly had spotted Dumbledore’s phoenix. “¡Ay, que lindo! What’s your name?”

“His name is Fawkes,” Harry told her. Sure enough, she was petting the large scarlet phoenix that lived in Dumbledore’s office. 

Harry took a seat in front of Dumbledore’s desk. For several minutes he sat and watched the old Headmasters, Headmistresses, and Headmagisters snoozing in their portraits, hearing Luz coo at the phoenix.

Harry looked around the room and saw the hat that had sorted him into Gryffindor on his first day at Hogwarts. Sitting next to it in a large glass case was a large silver sword with red rubies encrusted in the hilt. Harry recognized it as the same sword he had pulled from the sorting hat when he was in the Chamber of Secrets. He was gazing at it, wondering how it had come to his aid just when he needed it,when he noticed a patch of silvery light beaming onto the glass case.

Looking to find the source of the light, Harry spotted a large amount of light emanating from a large black cabinet that was tucked into the corner, whose door had not been closed properly. Harry hesitated, but eventually, curiosity got the better of him and he got up and opened the door all the way.

A small stone basin lay inside the door, lined with odd runes that Harry did not recognize. The light seemed to be coming from the odd contents of the basin, the likes of which Harry had never before seen. He couldn’t tell if the substance was a liquid or a gas. It was a bright, whitish silver, and was moving ceaselessly.

Harry wanted to touch it, but four years of magical experience told him that touching an unknown magical substance was a very stupid idea.

Luz, however, did not seem to have such inhibitions, as she declared, upon noticing what Harry was doing, “Hey, you found something magical. I'mma put my face in it!”

“Luz!” Harry screamed, but it was too late, she had stuck her face in the substance and fell in as though there was no bottom to the bowl. Harry, not wanting her to be left alone in there, dove in after her, silently scolding himself for how stupid it seemed.

His head did not hit the stone bottom. Instead, he felt like he was being dragged downward through ice-cold molasses.

He seemed to land in a large room, unlike any he had ever seen at Hogwarts, somehow, no one seemed to notice the two teenagers that had just fallen from the ceiling into the room. Instead, they were all silently staring at one corner of the room, as if they were waiting for something or someone.

Harry looked up at the ceiling, expecting to see the circular window through which he and Luz had fallen, but it wasn’t there. The ceiling was nothing but dark, solid stone.

Harry noticed Luz seated at his right, looking somehow much less bewildered than he was. On Harry’s left was one Albus Dumbledore.

“Professor!” Harry said in a sort of strangled whisper. “I’m sorry, we didn’t mean to, I was just looking at that stone basin in the cabinet of your office, then Luz…” He trailed off.

“Where are we?” Luz asked.

“I’m not sure,” Harry answered, then turned back to Dumbledore, “Professor, where are we?”

Dumbledore didn’t move or speak. He ignored Harry completely. Just like everyone else, he was staring at the far corner of the room, where a large door stood closed.

Harry gazed, bewildered, at Dumbledore, then around the room, then back at the professor. Then it finally dawned on him.

“I think we’re in a memory!” Harry and Luz said in unison.

Luz decided to prove this by getting up, walking into the center of the room, and shouting “Azura/Hecate is a more canon-compliant and better ship than Azura/Lucy!”

No one reacted.

“I knew it,” She said, sitting down.

(The memory stuff proceeds as it does in the book, I ain’t typing all that)

“Take them away!” Barty Crouch Sr. roared at the Dementors, spit flying from his mouth, “Take them all away, and may they rot there!”

“Father! Father! I wasn’t involved!” Barty Crouch Jr. pleaded, “No! No! Father, please!”

“Harry, Luz,” A soft voice said in his ear, “I believe it is time to return to my office,”

Harry, startled, turned around. There was an Albus Dumbledore to his left, watching the younger Crouch get dragged away, and there was an Albus Dumbledore on his right, looking directly at him.

He took Dumbledore’s arm, and Luz took the other. The world around him dissolved into blackness, and Harry felt himself rising into the air. He felt as though he did some sort of slow-motion somersault, and he landed, disoriented, in Dumbledore’s office.

“Professor,” Harry gasped, “I’m sorry, we shouldn’t have- the cabinet door was sort of open and-”

“I quite understand,” Dumbledore sighed, lifting the basin and carrying it to his desk. He motioned for Luz and Harry to follow him. “Curiosity is a very powerful thing,”

“What is that thing?” Luz inquired.

“This? It is called a Pensieve,” explained Dumbledore, “I often find, and I’m sure you know the feeling, that I simply have too many thoughts crammed into my head. At times like these, I can use the Pensieve to siphon the excess thoughts from my mind, pour them into this basin, and examine them at my leisure.”

Harry couldn’t truthfully say that he had ever felt anything of the sort.

 “You mean that stuff’s your thoughts?” Luz blurted.

“Certainly,” Dumbledore clarified, “Let me show you,”

Dumbledore drew his wand out from his robes and placed it near his temple. When he took the wand away, a strand of his silvery hair seemed to be clinging to it. But Harry soon realized that it was, in fact, a glistening strand of the same strange, silvery-white substance that filled the Pensieve.

Harry saw his own face in it. Dumbledore placed his wand in the bowl and swirled it around, his face transformed into that of Snape’s, who was saying something about his Dark Mark getting clearer.

“I was using the Pensieve when Mister Fudge arrived for our meeting, and I put it away rather hastily. It is quite unsurprising that it caught your eye.” Dumbledore said.

“I’m sorry, professor,” Harry mumbled.

“Curiosity is not a sin,” Dumbledore said, shaking his head, “But we should exercise caution with our curiosity.”

“So, children, before you got lost in my thoughts,” Dumbledore said quietly, “you wanted to tell me something,”

“Yes, err, we both had dreams-” Harry started.

“Were these dreams connected in any way?” Dumbledore interrupted.

“I’m not sure, professor,” Luz admitted, “I don’t know what Harry’s was about, but I doubt they were,”

“And why do you doubt that, Miss Noceda?” Dumbledore gently inquired.

“Well, this was the third time I’ve had this dream, and it’s the same every time.” Luz explained, “It starts with something similar to a past event, but never happened like that. It’s like back in Halloween of ‘22 when Belos possessed my friend Hunter… You know who Belos was, right?”

“Yes, I thought it wise to learn a bit about the Boiling Isles when your principal decided to enter this tournament.”

“Well, he possessed my friend Hunter and forced us to fight him. And the first part is much like that. But instead of being in a Human Realm graveyard, it seems to be in the Throne Room, but it looks like it’s been abandoned for some time. And also Hunter is with us, but also fighting us.”

“As in there are two of him?” Harry asked.

“Yes,” Luz answered, “Then, the Hunter we’re fighting makes a fatal blow on me, and then I open my eyes inside of Belos’ mind. Then things go just as they did when I was actually in his mind in August of that year, until the very end, where Hunter doesn’t save me from Belos’ scythe. Then I wake up, always at four thirty AM.

“Interesting,” Dumbledore said, clinging on to every word. “And as for you, Harry?”

(Harry explains his dream, then asks Dumbledore about his scar and stuff. Again, I don’t really wanna type something that would be word-for-word from the book)

“Professor,” Luz inquired, “Do you think perhaps you could explain why I have been having my dreams?”

“Hmm,” Dumbledore sighed, “That is less clear to me, as I know less of your situation. Is there anything one of you has done that could have bonded your souls?”

“Ummm,” Luz stopped and stroked her chin, “Well, the only thing I can think of is when he possessed the Heart of the Titan, he killed me. I came back later, but he did kill me for a bit. Could that have done it?”

“Yes, especially if it was via magical means, taking a life with magic leaves the souls intertwined, this normally does not have any sort of effect, but if something were to bring back the victim, it leaves their souls tangled together.”

“Is that how I got linked with Voldemort?” Harry inquired.

“That is exactly how you got linked with Voldemort.” Dumbledore exclaimed, “The Killing Curse does that, but your mother’s sacrifice saved you, tying your souls together.”

Luz yawned, “Oh, I guess I should get back to my girlfriend,”

“Yes, I have kept you for much too long. Good luck on the Third Task next week!” Dumbledore called as Harry and Luz left the office.

“I can’t believe it! You’re going to help me make a Palisman of my own!” Hermione gushed excitedly as they neared the grand Palistrom tree in Forearm Forest, luckily, it was not too far from the Owl house.

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” Hunter admitted, “Have you decided what animal you want to make it?”

Silence.

“Hermione?” Hunter asked, concerned.

He looked around and didn’t see her anywhere.

“Hermione!” He called, getting a bit scared.

She was nowhere to be found. He kept calling her name but kept being met with the same eerie silence. As though even the birds had disappeared.

The next thing he knew, he was falling.

“Hunter!” Hermione called, “There you are! I tripped on a root or something, but when I got up, you were nowhere to be found.”

“That’s odd, you seemingly disappeared,” Hunter added.

He looked around them, they had clearly been moved to somewhere else via magic. The trees were not in the same layout, the grand Palistrom tree that all carvers held sacred was missing, in the rough spot Hunter thought it should be, there was a familiar blue sapling.

Hunter decided to question his surroundings “Where-?”

“Caleb!” An unknown voice called out. A woman came into view, she seemed to resemble the Clawthornes in many ways, the same wild hair, the same paper-white skin. She wrapped Hunter in a tight hug, “There you are! I was getting worried when you weren’t at home! What has happened to your face? Are you alright?”

“Uhh,” Hunter managed, but Hermione was quicker, her wand was out in a flash.

“Let go of him,” She warned, “Or you will learn why I am considered the most gifted Witch of my age,”

The woman released Hunter, allowing him to breathe, “And just who are you? I thought I knew everyone on the Boiling Isles,”

Hunter tried to interject, “I don’t mean to be rude, but-”
“Not now, Caleb,” The woman said, getting out her cardinal Palisman, “Let me handle this,”

That Palisman, Hunter knew it all too well. It looked just like, no, it couldn’t be.

“Flapjack?” He asked, placing his hand on his heart, right where Flapjack had sacrificed himself for Hunter.

The cardinal animated itself and fled into Hunter’s hands, Waffle came closer to say hi to his fellow songbird.

“I-I don’t understand…” He mumbled, “H-how are you-”

“Evelyn?” a new voice called, “Where did you go? Philip came over for supper!”

The woman, Evelyn, stared at Hunter in disbelief, they stared at each other in stunned silence until the new voice walked all the way to them.

“Evelyn?” he asked, “What are you doing? And who are these two?” He gestured to Hunter and Hermione.

“Hermione Granger,” She answered quickly, “And this is Hunter, erm, I don’t think I ever actually heard your last name.”

“Clawthorne,” He said, choosing to take the name of the woman who had basically adopted him.

“If you’re a Clawthorne, then why haven’t I seen you at any family reunions?” Evelyn said, “Actually, you look so much in appearance like the Wittebane twins, I’m willing to bet good snails that they’re who you’re really related to,”

“Are you joking? He looks nothing like me!” The real Caleb objected.

“Hast thou looked in a mirror?” Evelyn countered quickly, “You two are identical! The only difference is the scarring on “Hunter”’s face”

“Caleb! Evelyn! Aren’t you two going to come back? I brought Caesar salad” An all too familiar voice called.

“No, that voice, it can’t be…”

“That’s him, isn’t it?” Hermione asked.

Hunter nodded solemnly.

Caleb and Evelyn left the two time-travelers alone as they approached an all-too-familiar house.

“Is that the Owl House?” Hermione asked, seeming to recognize the building.

“I think so,”

“May we join you for supper?” Hermione asked politely.

“Well, of course!” Caleb replied, “What kind of hosts would we be if we turned away guests?”

Hermione followed Caleb inside, Hunter trailing close behind her.

Hunter looked around and was amazed at just how different the Owl House looked. Obviously, Eda’s wanted posters and other assorted items weren’t present. But it was almost unrecognizable. Hooty wasn’t even at the door. Hunter doubted that the building had its nickname without the residence of Hooty or Eda.

“Please, take a seat,” Evelyn insisted as she led them to the dining room, (which Eda used as a storage room). “Caleb and I will have dinner prepared shortly.”

Hunter and Hermione both sat at the round, mahogany table. Philip sat next to Hunter.

“So,” Philip started, “Why do you appear identical to my brother?”

“I can assure you, it’s merely a coincidence,” Hermione insisted, “Hunter and I are from very far away. We were brought here by some strange magic. It’s very kind of your brother and Evelyn to allow us to stay for the night.”

“Well, of course, we’re giving you room and board,” Caleb insisted from the kitchen, “No honest man of God would turn away those in need.”

Philip didn’t seem to like Hermione’s answer but seemed to decide that it wasn’t worth bothering with.

A few minutes later, Caleb and Evelyn emerged from the kitchen, both of them carrying plates of food. Evelyn seemed to be struggling to carry all of her plates, she had one in her left hand and two in her right. Hunter stood up to take one, but Hermione was faster. She drew her wand and whispered, “ Wingardium Leviosa ” just in time. One of the plates slipped out of her hand, but instead of clattering to the floor, it floated in the air.

“Thank you, young lady,” Evelyn said, undisturbed by the magic.

All of the plates got set at the table, Evelyn and Caleb took seats next to each other. They held their hands together and stared into each other’s eyes. Evelyn rubbed her other hand on her belly.

The food was delicious, as far as Hunter was concerned. It tasted oddly nostalgic, even though he had never had it before. Caleb said that it was one of his mother’s old recipes from back home.

“Now that we have a baby on the way, I guess I’ve been feeling nostalgic from when Philip and I were boys,” Caleb admitted, “Mom always made the best food. She always ended up in charge of the village potlucks back in Connecticut.”

“You have a baby coming?” Hunter asked, “Well, congrats!”

“Thank you,” Evelyn said, “We weren’t sure at first if it would even work, him being a Human and all,”

“But by the grace of God above he has given us the miracle of life!” Caleb exclaimed, almost preachy in tone.

“Have you thought of a name yet?” Hermione asked.

Evelyn replied, “Unlike where Caleb and his brother come from, here in the Boiling Isles, we do not name a child, we allow them to name themselves at the age of six. It’s a bit of a rite of passage for young witchlets.”

“Now,” Caleb added, “If we did it my way, they would be named Ruth for a girl, or Joseph for a boy, and then the middle name after one of Evelyn’s parents. Could you imagine it? Ruth Ophelia Clawthorne, or Joseph Claudius Clawthorne. They have a nice ring to them, don’t you think?”

Clawthorne… Hunter thought, no wonder she seems so familiar. She’s an ancestor of the Clawthornes.

Eventually, long after the sun had set, Evelyn went upstairs to bed, that was when the real show began.

Philip left through the front door, Caleb rushed after him to wish him a good night.

Philip used his brother’s kindness as his downfall.

“Good night, Philip!” Caleb said after hugging his brother. Caleb turned around to return inside to his wife.

Pulling a jagged knife from his pocket, Philip raised his hand to strike his brother in the back.

“No!” Hermione yelled, “ Expelliarmus !”

The knife flew out of Philip’s hand, soaring toward Hermione, who caught it with ease.

“What have you done?” Philip begged, “I was going to save his soul! Now he is sure to be sent to Hell!”

“Philip?” Caleb asked, “What are you talking about?”

“Your soul!” Philip insisted, “I was trying to save your soul! You associate too closely with these Witches and heretics! I was going to save you before it was too late!”

“What are you talking about?” Asked Hermione.

A burst of green vines emerged from Philp’s hand, grabbing the knife out of Hermione’s hand.

“You Witches are too far gone. In order to save your souls,” He said, raising the dagger once more. Hunter and Hermione were too shocked to react. “Decisive action must be taken.”

He brought the dagger down. Deep red blood burst forth from Caleb, who screamed in agony.

“Why?” He begged with his dying breath, “Why would you kill your own brother?”

Caleb went limp, nearly a minute passed before anyone reacted.

“You’re-” Hunter accused through tears, “You’re a monster,”

“No,” Philip insisted, “I’m not a monster, I’m a savior! I will cleanse this world of sin if it’s the last thing I-”

“ Stupify ” Hermione shouted, “Come on, Hunter, let’s find our way back to where we belong,”

She dragged Hunter through the woods, and they eventually found the time pool that had brought them back in time.

Hunter went first. When he came out the other side, it was as though no time had passed. The sun still shined in an orange sky, and Dell was still patiently waiting for them by the Palistrom tree.

Hermione came behind him, looking thoroughly scarred for life.

“He…” She muttered, “He… he kill- he killed his own brother…”

Hunter was speechless.

“Hermione!” Dell called cheerfully, “Are you ready to carve your Palisman?”

Hunter looked back at her. Hermione’s eyes were full of shock.

“Hermione? Hunter?” Dell asked, “Is something wrong? You look like you saw a ghost,”

“He…”

Dell’s face grew increasingly concerned, “Who?”

“Philip…” Hermione muttered, “He… he…” She shook her head. “How could anyone be so horrid?”

“What did Philip do?” Dell asked.

“He killed… He killed his own brother.”

Dell’s face went from worry to comfort, “You’re okay Hermione. You’re safe, I’ll make sure of it,”

He silently called his Palisman and signed for it to find Eda.

“It’s okay Hermione,” He reassured, “You’re safe here,”

Chapter Text

I have tried so hard since school got out to write for this fic, but whenever I actually sit down and try to write, I draw a complete blank, this next chapter is eluding me entirely, and I leave for vacation Tuesday. I don't get back until July 22nd, so no updates on this for a little while.

I finally, just as I'm typing this, have decided to cut chapter 25, it was filler anyway, and nothing was getting on the page for it, I just wanted to have the Tasks be on the multiples of nine, so I added it in the outline.

Sorry for the long break compared to what I've delivered in the past!

lol, might happen again, might not, only a few more chapters left for me to mess it up. At this rate I'll be done by Christmas

anyways, next up (in like, a month): Confronting Biases

Chapter Text

Hermione returned very late, and she was seen clutching a wooden otter, though it seemed a bit smaller than a real one (Harry couldn’t be too sure of that, he hadn’t seen an otter since Dudley’s 11th birthday, which had ended in Dudley and his friend getting trapped in the boa constrictor’s tank. Harry was grounded for over a month due to that one.)

“Where’ve you been?” Ron inquired. It took a second for Hermione to react.

“I was carving my palisman with Hunter and his mentor,” Hermione said flatly.

“How come it’s just a wooden figure?” Harry asked calmly, “I thought they came alive,”

“Dell said that you have to tell it your true desire,” Hermione replied, “And I wanted to try that with you two around,”

“Why us?” Ron said bluntly.

Hermione scoffed, “Because you’re my two best friends, dumbass,”

“So you just tell it what you want to do with your life, and it wakes up?” Asked Ron.

“I think so,” Hermione replied.

The three of them gathered around a table in the common room and placed the otter figurine between them.

“I want to become a powerful witch,” Hermione said.

Nothing.

“Hermione,” Harry noted, “You already are a powerful witch,”

Hermione groaned, “I know that,”

“Well, what do you want?” Harry asked, trying to be helpful.

“I don’t really know,” Hermione said, “I’ve always just tried to be the best but… then what? What has it all been for?”

Harry shrugged. “Try saying you want to be the best?”

“I want to be the best,” Hermione tried.

Nothing again.

“I want to be the best student at Hogwarts and prove that muggle-born witches are just as capable as purebloods so Malfoy can shove it,” Hermione said.

The wooden otter sat there rather unmagically.

Hermione paused and thought for a long while.

“Ughh!” She groaned, “Why can’t I think of anything?”

“Maybe you’re just tired,” Harry said, “You look exhausted,”

“I want to be a successful witch, and help people!”

Nothing, nothing, nothing…

Hermione groaned in frustration, “Why won’t this work?”

“Hermione, you’ve tried three things,” Harry reminded, “We can figure this out. But maybe later, it’s getting late.”

“Yeah, you’re right, and the Third Task’s tomorrow, you need your strength, Harry,” Hermione added.

Hermione grabbed her otter and climbed the stairs to the girls’ dormitory. Harry and Ron went up to the boys’ dormitory.

The next morning, Harry awoke with a healthy sense of dread. On one hand, the tournament was finally going to be over, but on the other hand, this only meant that Harry had another shot at making a fool of himself in front of not only the entirety of Hogwarts, but also all of Beauxbatons, Durmstrang, and Hexside. 

The sense of dread was luckily not as heavy as it had been for the first two tasks, mostly because Harry felt that he had done all that he could to prepare.

Breakfast was a noisy affair. When the post appeared, Harry only received a good-luck card from Sirius, which was nothing but a muddy pawprint on a piece of parchment. Hermione received her morning copy of the Daily Prophet as usual. When she glanced at the front page, Hermione spat out a mouthful of pumpkin juice.

“What?” Harry and Ron asked in tandem.

“Nothing,” Hermione said quickly, trying to hide the paper. But Ron grabbed it.

He stared at the headline, “No way,” Ron muttered, “Not today, that old bitch ,”

“What?” Harry asked, “Is it Rita Skeeter again?”

“No,” said Ron, who, just like Hermione, tried to hide the paper.

Harry snatched the paper from Ron and began reading.

Harry Potter ‘Disturbed and Dangerous’

The boy who defeated He Who Must Not Be Named is unstable and possibly dangerous, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. (You get the gist, I ain’t typing all that)

“How did she know your scar hurt in Divination?” Ron asked, “There’s no way she was there, there’s no way she could have heard-”

“The window was open,” Harry said, “I opened it to breathe,”

“You were at the top of the North Tower!” Hermione reminded, “Your voice couldn’t have carried all the way down to the grounds!”

“Well, you’re the one who’s supposed to be researching magical methods of bugging,”

Willow walked up to them, followed closely by Hunter.

“Hey, Hermione,” She said, “How are you doing?”

“Better,” Hermione replied. She looked at Willow’s palisman for a moment, then back at the Daily Prophet still in Harry’s hands, then back at Willow’s palisman. An odd, dreamy expression suddenly came over her.

“You alright?” Ron asked, frowning at her.

“I’ve had an idea,” said Hermione, “I think I know… because then no one would be able to see… even Moody… and she’d have been able to get onto the window ledge… but she’s not allowed… she’s definitely not allowed… I think we’ve got her! Just give me two seconds in the library just to make sure!”

With that, Hermione grabbed her otter and sprinted out of the Great Hall.

“Oi!” Ron called, “We’ve got a History of Magic exam in ten minutes!” He turned back to Harry, Willow, and Hunter, “Blimey, she must really hate that Skeeter woman if she’s willing to risk missing the start of an exam,”

“Willow, Hunter,” Harry said, “Did anything happen last night? She seemed off when she got back, she was easily frustrated, and she wasn't thinking clearly,”

Hunter made a face that made Harry assume that something had definitely happened last night.

“A lot happened,” Hunter said.

“Like what?” Ron asked.

“We uhh, kinda met Eda’s great great great great, something grandparents…” Hunter said, “And saw Belos…”

“Belos, like the guy who was emperor and died a year ago?” Asked Harry.

“Yeah,” Hunter nodded, “Him,”

“Jeez,” Ron said, “And I thought you-know-who was hard to get rid of,”

Before Hunter could continue recalling the previous night, Professor McGonagall appeared behind Harry.

“Potter,” She began, “The champions are congregating in the chamber off the Hall after breakfast, the one you entered after your name came out of the goblet.”

“But the task’s not ‘til tonight!” Harry protested, accidentally spilling scrambled eggs onto his lap.

“I’m aware of that, Potter,” She said, “The champions’ families are invited to watch the final task. This is a chance to greet them. And there is also a final weighing of the wands, to ensure full functionality for tonight.”

She moved away, likely to tell Cedric the same.

“She doesn’t expect the Dursleys to turn up, does she?” He asked blankly.

“Dunno,” said Ron, “But I have to go, can’t be late for Binns, see you later,”

Harry finished his breakfast in the emptying Great Hall. He saw Fleur Delacour get up from the Ravenclaw table and join Cedric as they crossed to the side chamber. Krum slouched over and shortly joined them. Harry stayed where he was for a time. He really didn’t want to go in the chamber. He had no family, well no family who would turn up to see him risk his life anyway (His odds of survival were simply far too high for the Dursleys to want to come).

Just as Harry was getting up, Luz sprinted past him.

“Harry, you coming?” She asked.

He had been planning on skipping the meet-and-greet so he could study in the library, but he decided to come with his friend.

“I suppose so,” He said, getting up and following Luz into the chamber.

Cedric and his parents were just inside the door. Viktor Krum was in a far corner, conversing with his dark-haired parents in rapid Bulgarian. On the other side of the room, Fleur was jabbering away in French to her mother. Fleur’s little sister, Gabrielle, was holding her mother’s hand. She waved at Harry, who waved back. A small collection of Witches, and King, were waiting for Luz. Then he finally saw three people with fiery hair waiting for Harry. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and Bill. They were all beaming at him.

“Surprise!” Mrs. Weasley exclaimed. Harry smiled broadly and walked over to them.

“We thought we’d come over and see you, Harry!” She said, bending down and kissing him on the cheek.

Fleur Delacour, Harry noticed, was eyeing Bill with great interest from across the room.

“Fancy giving us a tour, Harry?” Bill asked.

“Yeah, sure,” Harry replied, and they made their way back towards the Great Hall.

As they passed Luz and her visitors, Eda looked at the Weasleys. “So, you must be Harry’s family!” She concluded, “I’m Eda, the Owl Lady, the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles!,”

“Wonderful to meet you,” Arthur said, “I’m Arthur Weasley, this is my wife, Molly, and our eldest, Bill,”

“And this is my son, King, my sister, Lilith, and my partner, Raine Whispers,” Eda introduced, “And of course, Camila Noceda, the kiddo’s mom,”

“Your son looks… different,” Bill noticed.

“That’s because I’m not a Witch,” King said enthusiastically, “I’m a Titan!”

“He’s not very titanic yet,” Luz says, “But someday he’ll be tall enough to touch the clouds!”

“Alright,” Harry said, “Nice to see you all again,” he started making his way to the door again.

“Ah, there you are!” Amos Diggory said, catching Harry, “Bet you’re not feeling quite as full of yourself now that Cedric’s caught up to you on points, are you?”

“What?” Harry replied.

“Ignore him,” Cedric said in a low voice, frowning at his father, “He’s been angry ever since Rita Skeeter’s article about the Tournament, you know when she made out you were the only Hogwarts champion,”

“Didn’t bother to correct her, though, did you?” Amos said to his son so loudly that he could hear them as he left the room.

Harry had a very enjoyable morning walking around the sunny grounds with the Weasleys. Eventually, they returned to the castle for lunch.

“Mum, Dad, Bill!” Ron said, looking stunned as he joined the Gryffindor table, “What’re you doing here?”

“We came to watch Harry in the last task!” Mrs. Weasley said brightly, “How were your exams?”

“Okay,” Ron admitted, “Couldn’t remember all the goblin rebels’ names, so I think I invented a few,” Mrs. Weasley looked stern, “They’re all stuff like Bodrod the Bearded anyway,”

Fred, George, and Ginny soon joined them. Soon, Harry felt like he was back at the Burrow, his worries about the final task melting away. Hermione, Luna, and the Blight twins soon joined them at the Gryffindor table. (Hermione seemed to think Luna shouldn’t be at the Gryffindor table, Luna argued that people who weren’t even students were sitting there, so she should be fine)

“So, mum,” Fred introduced, “This is Edric Blight, “ Edric gave a polite wave.

“And this is Emira Blight,” Said George. Emira also gave a wave.

“Oh, so you’re the parents!” Edric said, having no sense of subtlety, “I must say, Fred’s quite the attractive guy, now I see the source of the good looks,”

Arthur seemed surprised by the compliment, “Oh- well, err, thank you?” He said awkwardly, clearly unsure of what to really say.

“We’ve been dating the twins for a few months now,” Emira said, breaking the news unsubtly, “The four of us get along like birds of a feather,”

Mrs. Weasley looked shocked.

“Oh, if we’re coming out,” Luna said softly, “Then maybe you should know that Ginny and I have gotten romantically involved recently as well,”

This only shocked Mrs. Weasley more.

“What’s next?” She said indignantly, “Harry, Ron, and Hermione have started a polycule?”

“I mean, I don’t think we have,” Ron said.

“I know,” Fred said, “Learning about three different relationships in this quick of succession is a lot to take in,”

“It’s not that it’s just…” Mrs. Weasley muttered.

“Just what?” Edric asked.

Mrs. Weasley shook her head.

“It just doesn’t feel right,” She said quietly, “My children in such sinful relationships…”

“What about them is sinful?” Emira asked, “Is it because Ed and I aren’t human? I can assure you that Witches and Humans can, and apparently have , been able to reproduce together,”

“No… it’s just that… it’s not right, a boy with a boy. A girl with a girl…”

“And what’s wrong with that?” Edric asked, unaware of the concept of homophobia.

“It’s just not right,” She said.

“Why isn’t it right?” Luna asked, “We love each other, isn’t that enough?”

The silence coming from her was deafening

“I guess…” She eventually mumbled, “That’s enough,”

“Glad that we’re all in agreement,” Edric said, planting a kiss on Fred’s cheek.

Harry felt a tap on his shoulder, he turned around to find Professor McGonagall.

“Professor?” He said, a bit surprised. “Is it time for the Third Task already?”

“Not quite,” She replied, “There is a final weighing of the wands ceremony first, then the Third Task will commence in approximately three hours, at five o’clock sharp. Do not be late,”

It was finally the day of the third and final task, and Luz could not be more excited. She practically jumped out of bed that morning.

“Today’s the day!” She jabbered excitedly to a sleepy King, “It’s finally gonna be over! I’m gonna totally show those European dorks who’s boss!”

“European?” King sleepily asked.

“Don’t worry about it!” Luz quickly said.

Luz practically sprinted down the stairs of the Owl House, shocking the groggy old lady who calls it home.

“Huh?” Eda managed through her sleepiness, “What’s all this energy about?”

“Today’s the Third Task!” Luz exclaimed.

Eda yawned, “Well, at least you’re excited,”

Luz, practically bouncing with energy, grabbed some cereal and poured herself some.

“So…” Started Eda after she had some Apple Blood, “The last one is today, huh?”

“Yup!” Luz said enthusiastically between bites of cereal.

“Well, your mother should be there today, Rainestorm and I will too.” Eda said, “Now that I think about it, about half of Bonesborough is coming to cheer you on tonight. You’re pretty popular these days, kiddo,”

“Is that so?” Luz asked.

“Have fun at school!” Eda shouted as Luz rushed out the door in the direction of Hexside.

Luz got to school and nearly tripped as she got off of Stringbean.

“Hey, Batata!” She exclaimed, giving Amity a hug, “How are you?”

“I’m fine, but don’t you have some kind of Champion thing at Hogwarts right now?” Amity asked.

“Oh shoot! You’re right!” Luz exclaimed, getting back on Stringbean, “I’ll see you later Amity!”

Luz zoomed back to the Owl House, getting off of Stringbean only to go through the portal door.

As Luz sprinted to the room where they were supposed to group up, she passed Harry.
“Harry,” She asked, seeing her friend still at the table, “You coming?”

When Luz entered the room, she was met with a few familiar faces: Eda, Raine, Lilith, King, and most importantly, her mamá Camilla.

“Mamá!” She exclaimed upon entering, enveloping her mother in a massive hug, “It’s so good to see you!”

“It’s good to see you too, mija,” She said

Luz had a great time telling her mamá all about the events of the past few months, albeit leaving out the parts about her soul connection with Belos.

The afternoon came and went, and soon she and the other champions had to do a final Weighing of the Wands. The five champions lined up in the same order they had gone in November for the first Weighing. Mr. Ollivander was sitting at a large desk, and Mr. Fudge stood behind him.

Ollivander first called Fleur to him. He held Fleur’s wand in his hand and fiddled with it for a moment.

“Hmm, yes, nine and a half inches, rosewood, inflexible, and Veela hair,” He says. “Not exactly what I usually make, Veela hair is rather temperamental in my experience, but to each their own.,” Mr. Ollivander gave the wand a wave, and a bunch of flowers spurted out from the end.

“It seems to still be in working order,” He said, “Good luck today,”

Next was Cedric. As he handed Ollivander his wand, a sense of familiarity seemed to fill the old man’s face, “Ah, this is one of mine, I remember it well. Twelve and a quarter inches, ash, rather springy, and the tail hair from a rather fine unicorn, if I recall. Nearly stabbed me with its horn when I plucked its tail,” He recalled, giving the wand a wave, which produced fine sparks. “It’s in fine working condition,” He declared.

Viktor Krum was next.

“Ah, this is one of Gregorovitch’s, is it not?” Ollivander recalled.

“Yes,” Viktor said quickly.

“Well, it’s in fine condition, thicker than usual, but then again, Mister Gregorovitch likes to make them that way.” He noted, “Hmm, quite rigid, ten and a quarter inches, hornbeam and dragon heartstring,” Ollivander gave it a wave, which sent out water. Then he handed it back to Viktor.

Then Harry went up.

“Ahh, yes,” Ollivander said, recalling Harry’s wand, “Holly, eleven inches, rather supple, and a phoenix feather core,”

He gave the wand a wave, and light shot out from the end.

Then finally it was Luz’s turn. She walked up to the old man and took Stringbean off of her shoulder and onto the table.

“Ahh, yes!” Mr. Ollivander recalled, “You were the Witch with the, err, ‘Palisman’, as you called it,”

“Would you like me to do the magic to demonstrate her?” Luz asked.

“Actually,” Mr. Ollivander stated, “If you wouldn’t mind, I would like to have a try at using your magic. The Demon Realm seems to operate differently than our world, and as a wandmaker, these differences are fascinating to me,”

Stringbean, realizing her cue, summoned her staff from hammerspace and coiled herself around it. But before Mr. Ollivander could obtain the staff, Mr. Fudge piped in.

“Are you sure about that?” He asked the old wandmaker. “I mean, it comes from someplace called the ‘Demon Realm’ , doesn’t that concern you at least a little?”

“Not in the slightest,” Mr. Ollivander replied.

“Well, it should,” He retorted, “Who knows what kind of sin and debauchery might be going on there, not to mention any dark magic they might use,”

This was starting to really get on Luz’s nerves, but she was going to try to hold her tongue.

“I mean really, the Demon realm?” He said indignantly, “Maybe that’s where You-know-who is from.”

“Voldemort’s not from there and you know it!” Harry retorted from the back of the room.

“Regardless,” Fudge said, ignoring Harry entirely, “You can’t trust this… thing” He indicated to Stringbean, “Who knows what it’ll do to you! The snake could… come back alive and bite you! Or… wrap itself around your neck and choke you out!”

“Cornelius Fudge,” Dumbledore said firmly from near Harry, standing up. “We are here to foster cooperation and friendship between the Demon Realm and Human Realm. If you don’t want to be a part of that interdimensional magical contact, you have my invitation to leave,”

“Well… I… err…” Mr. Fudge said sheepishly, sitting back down as his face turned red, “I suppose you could give the thing a try if you insist.”

With a nod from Luz, Mr. Ollivander finally got to try to use Stringbean.

“Now, err. How exactly does this work?” He asked. Luz decided to try to help the man.

“Try to picture in your head what it is you want to do, and draw a circle in the air. The bigger the circle, the more powerful the spell will be.” She explained.

“Interesting, that reminds me of something I heard about a Native American tribe, I believe it was the Potatuck specifically, they similarly cast magic,” He recalls, “Or so our records from early settlers claim.”

Seemingly unaware of the fact that he unintentionally revealed the fact that the Wizarding World and Demon Realm have had some contact since at least the seventeenth century, Mr. Ollivander attempted to cast a spell with Stringbean.

He drew a small circle in the air in front of him. And a small puff of light was emitted.

“You did it!” Luz exclaimed.

“Yes, I did!” The old man said with a hint of childlike wonder.

“Would it be… possible for me to have one for my own?” He asked.

Luz sighed, “The wood that is used for carving Palismen comes from the Palistrom tree, which is nearly extinct. You could talk to my friend Hunter, he could give you more info on whether or not you could get one,”

Mr. Ollivander handed the wand back to her. “Thank you for allowing me to use your staff. And good luck to all champions on your third and final task of this Pentawizard Tournament!”

Chapter Text

“Ladies and Gentlemen!” Ludo Bagman’s voice echoed throughout the Quidditch Pitch, “The third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament is about to commence!”

The crowd roared in Luz’s ear as Mr. Bagman announced, the noise was not helping her nerves.

“Let me remind you how the points currently stand!” He continued, “Tied in first place, on a hundred-and-one points each, Mister Cedric Diggory and Mister Harry Potter, both from Hogwarts!” The cheers were so loud for them that Luz figured you could hear it in Gravesfield. “In second place, at ninety-eight points, is Miss Luz Noceda of Hexside School!” More applause, “In third place, at ninety-six points, is Mister Viktor Krum from Durmstrang Institute! And last, but certainly not least, at seventy-five points, is Miss Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons Academy!”

“Harry and Cedric will lead the way into the maze, followed by the rest of our competitors in order. The first champion to reach the Triwizard Cup will receive a full sixty points, the second closest to the cup gets fifty points, the third gets forty, the fourth gets thirty, and the fifth gets twenty points.” Mister Bagman explained.

“On your marks, get set,”

A short whistle went off, and the two Hogwarts Champions sprinted into the maze—the towering hedges closing behind them.

Time passed so slowly as Luz waited for her turn. She was told it was only one minute, but it felt like thirty. With every second that passed, Luz felt further and further from the cup.

Finally, after what felt like forever, the whistle blew again, and it was Luz’s turn to enter the maze.

It was dark in the maze. The hedges towered over her like skyscrapers. She felt like she hardly had space to breathe, much less draw a spell circle.

“Hey Stringbean, could you lend me some light?” She asked. The adorable little guy gladly complied, and Luz raced forward to try to catch up with Harry and Cedric.

Right, right, left, right, left, right, dead end, left, right, left, right, left, straight, right, dead end, left. 

Luz was getting lost.

“Guess the little mazes on the back of kids menus aren’t very helpful when you’re doing the real thing,” Luz said sarcastically.

Before Luz could get any more lost, she came face to face with what she could only describe as a monster. Ten feet long, with shiny armor and a scorpion tail, it vaguely resembled a scorpion mixed with a crab. But it was as gray as an elephant.

A random shot of sparks shot forth, and it got a lot closer to her.

Luz panicked for a second, then tried to cast a fire spell at it. The spell seemed to do nothing but anger it.

“Well then, why don’t you cool down?” Luz said confidently, using an ice spell to freeze the beast in place. Luz ran past the thing before it had time to thaw.

Left, left, right, dead end, left, right, left, left. Luz felt like she was getting nowhere. She knew the cup was in the center of the maze, and that she had started in the southeast corner, but she had gone so far that she had no idea where she was now.

Luz wanted to just hop on Stringbean and fly over the hedges, just to get a feel for where she was, but she had a sneaking suspicion that something like that would probably get her disqualified.

But Luz still needed some way to figure out where she was, or this maze would be impossible.

That was when she got an idea. Use plant magic to get a map of the maze from feeling where the hedges were. That wouldn’t help her much in figuring out where she was, but it was a start.

She sat there for a good while, just trying to remember her steps, and wishing she had thought of this sooner.

“Okay,” She finally concluded, “I must be somewhere around there, so I think I need to go…” She pointed to her left, “That way!”

Luz rushed into the maze with newfound confidence.

Before Luz could get moving too far, she heard a voice scream. It sounded like Fleur. Was she alright?

“Fleur?” She called out, “Are you okay?”

No response.

“Fleur!” She called again. With the same dead silence.

Instead of going towards the cup, Luz started running to where she heard the scream.

She saw Fleur laying limp on the ground.

“Fleur?” She asked, “Are you okay?”

No response.

Luz checked her breathing.

“Phew, that’s good, she’s still alive,” Luz said.

Luz drew a spell circle and sent red sparks into the sky, telling the professors to come grab Fleur.

With that deed done, Luz ran towards the cup.

Left, right, right, straight, left. They came much easier now that Luz had obtained a map.

But Luz was soon stopped by yet another roadblock. Literally, in this case, Luz, who had been running, suddenly went flying backward, despite there not seeming to be anything there.

Luz approached the same spot more cautiously, and it seemed that there was an invisible wall of some sort.

Luz couldn’t exactly avoid it, as, assuming her map was correct, the closest detour around this spot would have her walking for ages. So, rather than doing all that, she drew a spell circle to try to reveal anything of note on the wall.

It seemed to be nothing more than a shield charm, so some brute force should do the trick.

Luz threw a fire spell at it. Which seemed to do quite a bit to the shield. Unfortunately, it did even more to the hedges around the shield. As both walls around the shield caught fire.

“Damn it!” Luz said as she drew spell circles with Stringbean and put out the flames with water, “Why did I use fire while in a hedge maze?”

There was an upside to the burn, she could now squeeze between the shield and the now-charred hedge to sneak past.

Luz heard screams of pain and tried to run towards them, but before she got there, she saw red sparks.

After a few more turns, Luz bumped into a familiar face.

“Harry?” She said, a bit surprised to bump into someone else.

“Luz?” He replied, “Why do you smell like fire?”

“I might’ve accidentally burned a bit of the maze,” She admitted sheepishly.

“Have you bumped into anyone else?”

“Yeah, Fleur, after she screamed,”

“Yeah, ran into Cedric earlier, and Krum. Something was wrong with Krum, he must’ve snapped or something, he was using the Cruciatus Curse on Cedric.”
“The what now?”
“Torture curse,” Harry replied, “It’s highly illegal,”

Their conversation was cut short, however, because a lion-like beast with a human head appeared.

“Let me guess, a sphinx?” Luz said.

“You are correct, I am a sphinx,” It replied, “But you won’t get past me so easily. You must answer me these questions three, ere the other side ye see,”

“Three? I thought you were supposed to only give one?” Harry asked.

“Well, there’s two of you, and you can’t rhyme two with anything! So I made it three!” The sphinx defended.

“Let’s try not to piss off the sphinx, so we don’t have to answer her riddles four,” Luz said.

“The first is this: I'm not clothes but I cover your body; The more I'm used, the thinner I grow. What am I?”

Luz thought for a moment.

“What else do you put on your body other than clothes? Makeup? No that doesn’t work,”

“A towel?” Harry thought, “It’s not technically clothing, and it gets thinner as it gets worn out, I guess,”

The sphinx shook its head.

“Soap?” Luz thought aloud, “You put it on your body, and it gets thinner as you use it,”

“That is correct,” The sphinx said, “Next is this: What comes once a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?”

They both thought for a moment.

“Well, it’s obviously not something physical, maybe it has something to do with the names?” Harry said.

“Well, how do you spell them?” Luz said, “M-i-n-u-t-e, m-o-m-e-n-t, t-h-o-u-s-a-n-d y-e-a-r-s,” She spelled.

“Is it a letter?” Harry said. A moment later, he had an answer, “It’s the letter M” He concluded.

“Correct,” The sphinx said. “Your final riddle is as follows: Only one color, but not one size, Stuck at the bottom, yet easily flies. Present in sun, but not in rain, Doing no harm, and feeling no pain. What is it?”

“Oh, I know this one!” Luz said enthusiastically, “It’s a shadow!”

The sphinx nodded and allowed the two champions passage.

“We did it!” Luz said.

“You did most of the work,” He replied.

“You still helped,”

In front of them was a small clearing, with the Triwizard Cup sitting in the center.

“There it is!” Luz exclaimed.

They both started sprinting towards the cup when a dark figure also quickly started gaining on it. Luz concluded that it must be Cedric. Something else was coming too, something huge. And Cedric was about to run into it.

“Cedric!” Harry bellowed, “On your left!”

Cedric looked around just in time to hurl himself past the figure and avoid colliding with it. In his haste, however, he tripped, causing his wand to fly out of his hand.

The figure stepped into the light and revealed itself to be a gigantic spider. It soon began to bear down on Cedric.

“ Stupefy! ” Harry shouted. The spell hit the spider’s gigantic hairy black body but, for all the good it did, he might as well have thrown a pebble at it. The spider turned and attacked Harry.

The spider caught Harry and lifted him into the air.

“ Expelliarmus! ” Cedric shouted, having grabbed his wand.

Luz, realizing a direct attack on the thing would only piss it off, twirled Stringbean into a circle and cast green vines that wrapped around the spider, trapping it.

Luz noticed that Harry’s leg had been gashed rather severely by the spider.

“Are you okay?” She asked, rushing over to him, “I can try a healing spell, but these wounds look pretty bad. I’m not that good of a healer, but-”

“Luz,” Harry interrupted, “Quit talking and cast the spell,”

“Right, right, sorry,” Luz said, casting a light blue circle into the air above Harry’s leg.

As Luz healed Harry, she noticed that Cedric wasn’t grabbing the cup.

“Go on,” She said, “Grab it, you deserve it,”

But Cedric didn’t move. He merely stood there, watching the two underage champions. Then he turned once again to the cup. Luz saw the longing expression on his face in its golden light. Cedric turned once again to the duo. Luz had mostly healed Harry’s leg by this point. Or, it was at least as good as it was going to get.

“I’m gonna stop there, before I accidentally give your leg an eye,” Luz stated, halting the spell.

The giant spider screamed rather loudly as it struggled in its floral trap.

“Let’s get out of here before mister big and hairy over there breaks free,” Luz said, “Can you walk?” She added, turning back to Harry.

“I should be fine,” Harry groaned as he stood up.

“Why haven’t you taken it yet?” Harry asked.

“I don’t deserve it, that’s twice now I’ve had my life saved in here,” Cedric replied.

“Stop being so noble,” Harry spat, “I want to get out of here, just take the damn thing,”

“You warned me about the dragons,” Cedric said, “I would’ve been out in the first round if it weren’t for you,”

“I had help on that,” Harry replied, “And you helped me with the egg, so we’re square,”

A vine broke. Then another.

“Let’s all grab it on three!” Luz shouted, trying to get out of there before the spider was free.

“One! Two! Three!” They all said in unison, each grabbing some part of the handle.

Instantly, Luz felt a jerk somewhere inside her core. Her feet left the ground. She couldn’t unclench the Triwizard Cup. In a howl of wind and color, they were swept away.

“On your marks, get set,”

A short whistle went off, and the two Hogwarts Champions sprinted into the maze—the towering hedges closing behind them.

The towering hedges cast black shadows on the ground, making it seem like night, despite sunset not being for several more hours. The sound of the crowd was also silenced the instant the hedge closed behind them. 

Harry pulled out his wand and muttered “ Lumos ” Cedric did the same.

After about fifty meters, they reached a fork.

“See you,” Harry said, taking the left fork, while Cedric took the left.

Cedric heard Bagman’s whistle again, meaning Luz had just entered the maze. Cedric sped up a bit. The path ahead seemed deserted, at least for now.

Bagman’s whistle blew again, then again. Now all champions were in the maze.

“ Point me ,” Cedric said, holding his wand flat in his palm.

The wand spun and pointed to his right. That way was north, and Ceric knew the center of the maze was to the northwest.

Before he could strategize too much, he was attacked by a massive scorpion-like creature.

“ Stupefy !” Cedric shouted. But the spell bounced harmlessly off of its shell and landed in the hedges.

“ Impedimenta !” He shouted. The spell merely ricocheted off.

Fire blasted out from the Skrewt, igniting his sleeve.

Cedric fell on his back. The Skrewt got closer and closer, eventually standing on its back legs to presumably try to eat him.

“ Petrificus Totalus! ” Cedric shouted, aiming for the Skrewt’s vulnerable underbelly.

It finally worked, and Cedric was able to progress.

Just as Cedric was putting out the small fire on his sleeve, he bumped into Harry again.

“Hagrid’s Blast-Ended Skrewts!” He warned, “They’re enormous, I only just got away!”

Harry shook his head and Cedric ran past Harry, keen to get as far as he could from that God-forsaken beast.

Cedric did the Point Me charm again and headed to his left.

Minutes went by where nothing happened, and the worst of Cedric’s worries were dead ends. He could tell he was getting closer though.

Cedric heard a scream, and it sounded like Fleur.

“Fleur?” He called.

There was silence. But before he could worry about Fleur too much, red sparks flew into the sky. She was okay, but out of the running.

Cedric was a bit sorry for Fleur, she had done so poorly across the board in the tournament. But still, some part of him couldn’t help but think “One down”

Cedric didn’t go very long until he met another obstacle. This time the area around Cedric quickly became very dark and very cold. He couldn’t see a thing, and he was freezing.

“ M-Mannus Flamma ” He shivered, creating a small, handheld flame to keep him warm and light his way.

Cedric slowly kept walking, holding the flame close to his chest to warm him.

Almost as suddenly as the freezing darkness appeared, it disappeared. Except now he had other problems, someone, or something was behind him. Cedric turned and was face to face with Krum; there was something that seemed off about his eyes, though Cedric couldn’t quite tell what.

Krum aimed his wand at Cedric.

“What are you doing?” He yelled, “The hell do you think you’re doing?!”

Krum opened his mouth, uttering a word he had hoped to never hear outside of Defense Against the Dark Arts.

“ Crucio! ”

Cedric felt as though he was being stabbed by burning hot knives on every square inch of skin on his body. He screamed in pain. But no amount of screams could convey the level of pain he was experiencing. To say it was the worst pain of his life was a vast understatement.

The torture seemed to last forever. But it suddenly ended. When Cedric came to, Krum had been stunned, and Harry was there.

“You alright?” Harry asked, grabbing Cedric’s arm and helping him up.

“Yeah,” He panted, the pain fading, “I-I can’t believe it… he snuck up on me… I heard him. But by the time I turned around, he had his wand on me,”

“I can’t believe it either… I thought he was alright,” Harry replied, staring at Krum’s stunned body.

“So did I”

“Did you hear Fleur scream earlier?”

“Yeah. You don’t think Krum got her too?”

“I don’t know,”

“We can’t just leave him here,”
“No,” Harry muttered, “I reckon we should send up red sparks. Someone’ll come get him. Otherwise, he’ll probably be eaten by a Skrewt,”

Cedric shot red sparks above Viktor’s helpless body.

“Well, I suppose we’d better get going,” Cedric said, offering his hand to shake, “Good luck,”

“Oh, yeah, right,” Harry said, shaking Cedric’s hand awkwardly.

Cedric moved on, continuing to use the Point Me spell to find his way to the center of the maze. It was between him, Harry, and Luz now. His desire to reach the cup was stronger than ever now, but he could hardly believe what Krum had just done. The use of an Unforgivable Curse on a fellow Human being meant a life sentence in Azkaban. Krum couldn’t have wanted the Cup that badly.

Left, right, straight, left, right, left, left, straight.

After enough twists and turns, Cedric finally saw it, the Triwizard Cup. He started sprinting as fast as he could. He saw in the corner of his eye that Harry and Luz were also running, but Cedric was closer, he was going to make it.

“Cedric!” Harry bellowed, “On your left!”

Cedric turned his head and saw a massive arachnid approaching. He dove forward just in time, but he tripped and dropped his wand.

The Acromantula approached Cedric, but just before it attacked him, Harry cast Stupefy on it, drawing its attention to Harry.

The spider caught Harry and lifted him into the air.

Cedric crawled on the ground until he grabbed his wand again.

“ Expelliarmus! ” Cedric shouted, causing the Acromantula to drop Harry.

Green vines appeared from the hedges, wrapping around the spider until it was unable to move. Cedric turned and saw that Luz had drawn a large green circle in the air. 

Cedric got up and saw that Harry had been hurt, but clearly, Luz had noticed first, as she was already tending to his wounds.

“Are you okay?” She asked, rushing over to him, “I can try a healing spell, but these wounds look pretty bad. I’m not that good of a healer, but-”

“Luz,” Harry interrupted, “Quit talking and cast the spell,”

“Right, right, sorry,” Luz said, casting a light blue circle into the air above Harry’s leg.

Cedric didn’t grab the cup, even though there was a huge part of him that wanted to.

“Go on,” She said, “Grab it, you deserve it,”

But Cedric didn’t move. He merely stood there, watching the two underage champions. Then he turned once again to the cup. He wanted to grab it, but he didn’t deserve it, Harry did. Cedric turned once again to the duo. Luz had mostly healed Harry’s leg by this point. 

“I’m gonna stop there, before I accidentally give your leg an eye,” Luz stated, halting the spell.

The giant spider screamed rather loudly as it struggled in its floral trap.

“Let’s get out of here before mister big and hairy over there breaks free,” Luz said, “Can you walk?” She added, turning back to Harry.

“I should be fine,” Harry groaned as he stood up. He didn’t see that fine, but Cedric decided against bringing that up.

“Why haven’t you taken it yet?” Harry asked.

“I don’t deserve it, that’s twice now I’ve had my life saved in here,” Cedric replied.

“Stop being so noble,” Harry spat, “I want to get out of here, just take the damn thing,”

“You warned me about the dragons,” Cedric said, “I would’ve been out in the first round if it weren’t for you,”

“I had help on that,” Harry replied, “And you helped me with the egg, so we’re square,”

A vine broke. Then another.

“Let’s all grab it on three!” Luz shouted, trying to get out of there before the spider was free.

“One! Two! Three!” They all said in unison, each grabbing some part of the handle.

Instantly, Cedric felt a jerk somewhere inside his core. His feet left the ground. He couldn’t unclench the Triwizard Cup. Someone had turned the Triwizard Cup into a Portkey.